


Would You Just Shut Up And Let Me Help You?

by CreepingHeart, DreamcastLee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I promise there will be gay, Keith is a merman, M/M, Slow Build, have patience, it's gay I swear, mentions of Shiro, mer!Keith, mermaid au, no one dies! I swear, poor keith just wants some peace and quiet, these morons, they're both idiots, they're both stubborn morons, tw: minor injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-07-27 03:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 34,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7602184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreepingHeart/pseuds/CreepingHeart, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamcastLee/pseuds/DreamcastLee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Keith finds his peaceful evening on his cliffs completely shattered by Lance drowning in the water below, he rushes out to save the other.  It's not until after he saves Lance's life that Keith realizes that his body now has a tail, gills, fins, and way to many red and purple scales.  How is he able to cope with this sudden change?  What does Lance do about the mysterious creature with an annoying mullet that saved his life?  The answer is certainly not talking it out like a reasonable human being.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lance Drowns

      Being on this specific cliff had always given Keith the peace he needs in times of stress.  He’d practically lived on this specific cliff and beach for the four years he’s been in this small, seaside town.  Running a hand through his hair, Keith buries his chin into the crook of his elbow as he sits with his knees pulled to his chest.  The day had been too hot and he’d passed out while cleaning the pool he was responsible for maintaining at the local community center - the pay isn’t the best but it gets him out of the house for about six hours a day every day and a good hundred dollars in his pocket every week after taxes.  His manager had found out about his passing out so early on in his shift today and ended up  sending him home, demanding that he not come in the following day either to “recuperate.”  Keith already knows the real reason behind his manager being so “considerate”: they’re giving him less hours, less pay, less health insurance coverage…  It’s all a lot for a nineteen year old to maintain on a part-time job but he’s managed pretty well.  If “managing well” would include flunking out of school due to being at this particular cliff because he’d been too stressed to leave this spot for hours at a time.

      The cliff he’s sitting on the edge of isn’t a very popular place.  Behind him is some forest that only goes a hundred yards before you hit a road and some walking trails.  The cliff face in front of him is a sheer drop of forty feet with a lot of patches of sharp rocks cropping up in the small beach being lapped at by the ocean.  Keith watches the tide come in silently.  There’s only two safe paths to climb down to the beach and he always chooses to sit near the shorter of the two.  Only a few people even bother to come over to this nook in the beach line since it’s so far from town and the water is so choppy and filled with unseen currents just off the shore.  None of this bothers Keith, though.  Instead, the welcome silence and isolation gives him a second home right here on the cliff.  No memories or financial struggles can reach him on the cliff side.  Only the ocean below is able to talk or yell at him and he's grateful.

      His silent reprieve from the stress of the day is soon  interrupted by a loud voice promising a show to unknown people.  Keith looks back at the woods behind him and glares at the movement he can see as someone approaches his quiet beach.  He’s hidden from the other safe path down by some bushes that line the cliff between the two paths.  When the shouting idiot finally manages to get out of the woods and to the cliff face, Keith is briefly able to see that the moron looks kinda familiar.  He barely gets to see dark skin and a cocky smile before the other kid starts turning around to climb down free-style to get to the rocky shore line.  Keith watches from his hidden spot as the other man manages to climb down with shocking ease to the rocky shore below.  To his eye, it almost seems that the moron has practice going down the longer path.

      When he hears the kid shout something excited, Keith sits up in surprise.  The idiot is actually pulling his jacket off.  Now his shoes and socks..  The moron is going to swim in this water at high tide!  Keith sits and watches in shock as the stranger willingly runs across the rocky sand barefoot, into the rough water that pulls out even the strongest swimmers!  Without even hesitating, Keith gets up and starts down his own preferred path to the water.  He only has his back turned for a few moments but he hears shouts for help by the time his feet hit the sand.

      Tearing off his jacket as he runs, Keith manages to kick his shoes off on his way to the water but has to pause when he pulls his socks off. He leaves both pairs behind on the rocks as the shouts grow more frantic before stopping altogether.  The noise of the waves is the only sound Keith can hear just as he catches sight of the dark hair against the blue water with arms flailing to stay above the water.  He feels panic grip him as he all but dives into the water.  Always a strong swimmer, especially in his little beach, Keith is shocked to feel sharp pain start up the moment he’s in the water.  Writing it off as the water beating against him, Keith fights the currents he's so used to in order to get out to the drowning guy.  As far out as Keith remembers seeing the kid, Keith finds himself grabbing the other much too soon even for his usual speed in the water.  He pulls the limp man to the surface, gasping for a breath and finding that his gasp isn’t all too helpful.  He should feel out of breath, dizzy,  _ something _ .  But instead his breaths are coming easy to him, as though he hadn’t been holding his breath all the way out here.  Keith reorients them both towards the shore, feeling his chest tighten when he doesn’t feel his  _ legs _ reacting.  He looks down, trying to see his legs but only sees bright red rippling straight below him.

      The sputter of coughing in his arm brings Keith back from his panic.  Something’s  _ wrong with him _ but he’d still managed to turn them back to shore, so maybe it’s not that bad.  Keith realizes he doesn’t feel any pain, so he focuses himself on the kid he’s trying to save from drowning after being pulled out by the currents.  Holding the limp boy close with one arm and making sure that his head is held above the water, Keith starts swimming back to shore.  He feels something starting to hurt in his back just as he realizes how much faster they’re getting back to land compared to the last time he’d swam in these currents.

      Way too soon, Keith feels sand against what  _ should _ be his feet but even with the tide this high he knows that he shouldn’t even be close to touching any sand.  Putting his focus back on the half-drowned guy in his arms, Keith powers through the currents and lands them both on the shore.  He lands on the sharp rocks first, grunting at the pain as they tear apart his shirt and into his stomach and chest.  Somehow he manages to keep the idiot in his arms from being too hurt by the rocks.  Keith struggles with himself in attempts to stand, wanting to get the guy he just saved to a safe spot to save him.  Each time he fails to get his legs under him, Keith grows more frustrated.  Finally, he gets on his elbows and looks behind him to see why he can’t stand.

      Behind him, where his legs should be, is a bright red tail the same color as his favorite jacket.  It moves and fights as he wants his actual legs to.  Where the tail bends, two guiding fins are splayed as he’s struggling to move.  The far end of his tail is still in the water and he barely sees a lump in the center of his back under his shirt just in his periphery.  Another sputtering cough draws his attention away from his own issues as he realizes the situation he’s in once more.  Keith pushes himself off the ground with one hand, ignoring the realization of his torso blending into the red scales that make up the tail that starts just below his navel, and pulls the half-drowned man close again.  Biting down hard, he doesn’t cry out at the pain of dragging his heavy body across the rocky shore.  He can feel where places on his tail become slick with blood as the rocks fight and tear into him.  Tears sting his eyes as he fights his much heavier body to get the man to safety.

      Finally…

      Finally he gets them both away from the water, away from the danger of being pulled out by a high wave.  He lays the stranger across the rocky sand, making sure the ground is as even and rock free as possible.  He checks for breathing and gives a loud sigh of relief when he feels the weak breath moving out of the young man.  The guy’s just passed out..  Keith winces as his tail - he still hasn’t freaked out properly about this part of himself yet - pulls closer to his body and drags across more rocks.  Looking back over his shoulder, Keith frowns at the trail of red he sees behind him.  It’s a lot..  He swallows hard, fighting his hardest to keep from throwing up what little lunch he’d eaten earlier today.

      Somehow he has a bright red tail where his legs had been.  Keith begins to worry his lip but he quickly stops when he tastes blood.  Pulling one hand up from where he’s fighting to keep himself upright, Keith wipes the sand from his hand and starts to explore his mouth.  What breath he had just leaves his body altogether.  His canines are practically  _ fangs _ .  Keith fights with himself to get a breath, his chest heaving as he pulls his hand from his mouth only to see red scales on the back of it as well…!  With his hand pulled away from his face, Keith finally sees the dark, purplish webbing that’s grown between his fingers.  He can’t breathe.  He’s quite literally on the edge of his mind, fighting against the panic trying to take him over.  His hands move to tear at his shirt with how stretched it is.  It only takes him two pulls before he tears his shirt off his body.  He can feel a  _ fin _ stretch out along his spine once it’s freed from his shirt.  Looking down at his chest, he sees red and purple scales decorating random patches of his body with a large concentration of them hanging around some slits on his ribs.

      Somehow he’s snapped out of his self-centered panic by a forgotten voice.  He looks up at the face staring at him, his panic doubling when he doesn’t immediately recognize what emotion he’s seeing.  The guy he just saved is talking to him.


	2. Mullet Head is Bleeding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! This hit over 500 hits in just three days! Well, I promised a schedule and a surprise update.  
> CreepingHeart and I understand that weekly updates are going to be long and a little difficult to stay with the plot, but please bear with us. My job has me away from a laptop a lot during the summer and our college semester is about to begin in a few weeks. Because of this, I have a total of fourteen chapters written and mostly revised so that there can be some consistency with our updates! Every Friday before I go in for my serving shift, I will be posting the new chapter before 3pm my time. Like with this first chapter, certain milestones with the hits might get surprise Sunday updates! Keep an eye on comments and notes for more information regarding these.  
> If you want to contact CreepingHeart or myself, see the other Notes for our Tumblrs where you can message us privately.

      “-llo? Hello? Buddy?” Lance’s voice was hoarse, throat sore with all the water that he had, at some point, coughed up.  He wasn’t sure what happened but when he woke up, he was laying in the sand, and there was heavy breathing and small sounds of panic from somewhere beside him. He thought maybe the person was freaking out over him, which was flattering, even in his barely conscious state. But when he finally opened his eyes, prepared to receive sounds of relief, he was sorely disappointed. Instead of some beautiful woman fawning over him and his aching body, he found a...guy...sitting right beside him, eyes wide and shaking a little. What was happening? He tried getting his attention, but it seemed he was having some kind of panic attack that was far worse than anything Lance probably experienced just now. He tried again, hoping he would get through this time. “Hey, uh, are you okay?” He asked, reaching an exhausted hand out to touch the purplish scales that covered what should be the guy’s shoulder. His body was much more tired than he originally thought, given how much effort he had to put into  _ just _ sitting up. Still, nobody was around to see this? To check on him? Didn’t he just drown? Nobody cared? Damn. All he got for a welcome back party was a creature who was currently having some sort of crisis.

      Bright yellow eyes snap to his face and take the breath out of his exhausted body.  He can see a bit of blood trickling down pale lips, even staining some scales on the guy’s chin.  Lance looks up at the guy, seeing red and purple scales along the creature’s cheeks and temples.  Elongated ears covered in the same scales twitch as the eyes seem to search his person in an almost invasive staring.

      “Y-you’re awake,” the creature rasps out in front of him.  Can it not breathe? Okay, now Lance was concerned for the other being. Freaky anatomy aside, this dude was seriously having issues.

      “H-hey man take a deep breath, c-c’mon, it’s alright.” He tries to coax the creature in front of him, his hands out to show that he meant no harm to the panicking creature. Maybe he was afraid of something?  “Nobody’s around here.  You can just relax.”

      Wary yellow eyes look him over and a large, bright red tail moves into view as the creature sits up even straighter.  It seems to consider Lance a moment before listening and taking a slow, shaky breath.  Lance’s eyes catch on the bright scales reflecting the afternoon sunlight coming in across the water.  It’s fantastic..  Maybe he did drown.  Maybe this is Purgatory?

      It’s another moment of quiet from the creature he’s staring at before what he (Lance assumes it's a he, anyways) says, “You were drowning..  Do..  Are you feeling well enough to climb back up yet?”

      “Dude…” Lance mumbled, squinting as his eyes explore more than his face and travel downward until he spotted a small pool of dark red liquid - the liquid almost looks like blood - leaking out from underneath what he recognized as a tail. Woah. Holy shit. That’s a ton of blood.  “You’re really bleeding, like really bad. Do you even feel that?” he asks, holding onto his legs for support as he gently pokes where a human’s knee should be. “How did you get this bad?” he asked, perplexed. This didn’t really feel real, if Lance was being honest - there was what could only be described as a merman sitting beside him in an otherwise uninhabited beach. This was definitely not real. But if this was a dream, how come his body was physically aching as though he really had been drowning?

      The merman gives a shout of pain, looking almost like he flopped over when he collapses in an uncoordinated motion that sends the massive tail flailing right next to Lance.  Lance catches a glimpse of raw patches of flesh and torn scales in the brief sighting of the underside of the tail just before the massive appendage falls to the sand and rocks once more.  He’s in awe at the situation but the sight of so many injuries on such a small amount of space makes his stomach turn.

      The creature slowly picks himself back up with his back to Lance.  It looks like it’s struggling to breathe again. Shit...  Lance sees the dude’s arms give out and he starts to freak out over the blood and the state of the creature.  

      Wait?  Lance looks around for a minute, surveying their surroundings.  How did they get this far from the water?  “Dude...  Did- did you drag us both over here?” he asks, tentatively reaching out to touch the guy’s tail again.

      Those bright yellow eyes go right back to his own, leaving Lance breathless once more at the sight.  Even in the awkward position the merman is in, those eyes are just as striking when looking over the creature’s scale covered shoulder.  But the merman almost looks scared…?  It’s a weird look to say the least.

      “..can you leave yet?” it demands once more in a strained voice.  Can the creature really not breathe?  Regardless of the answer, the question irritates Lance. 

      “I’m...not really sure? My body is killing me man...” He licks his lips, focusing back on himself for a moment. He feels sore, like when his father puts him to work between the farm and the restaurant.  He can’t really tell if he can stand, but judging by how much effort Lance had put into raising his arm he really doubts that he can.  Knowing his answer, he looks back to the pooling blood on wet sand.  Just the sight makes him feel sick but his concern seems to be keeping him sane right now. “But, uh, do you need to go to some kind of hospital or something? That whole situation down there looks really bad, dude,” he repeats, concern once again washing over him as he looks at the bleeding tail.

      “Do you have a phone?”  the creature fights itself to sit up again, his fins flailing at the intense pain he’s enduring just being on the shore right now.  Still looking at the tail, Lance notices just how many sharp rocks must be underneath the massive body.  The pain must be unbearable..  And the idiotic creature keeps moving over them and rasping out words, too!  “Or is someone up on the trails waiting for you?  You need to get your socks and shoes before they’re washed away…”  It trails off on the last sentence before looking around the small beach.  The yellow eyes seem to settle on something and suddenly the massive thing is trying to drag itself over the rocks, scraping its underside as it moves towards where Lance’s shoes, socks, and jacket sit near another set of clothes. 

      Lance blinks once he realizes what the merman is after.  His hand automatically reaches out to grab the moron and keep the injured creature from being hurt even more.  The scales are hot to his touch but not burning him.  It’s a strange enough feeling to break up his thoughts when he tries to voice them. “H-hey, chill out, mom, it’s not a big deal!  You’re gonna seriously hurt yourself, geez…!  Just - just let me get them,” he huffs.  The creature stills and Lance pulls his hand back awkwardly.  Inhaling deeply before straining to stand, he uses the support of a nearby rock to get to his feet.  His legs are shaky but seem to be willing to carry his weight. 

      He manages to make it over to the clothes before dropping to his knees for a second to catch his breath while he gathers his dry clothes in his arms. It wasn’t that far away from where the merman had dragged him but he was already tired as hell. While he’s kneeling and preparing himself for the walk back, Lance notices there are two sets of clothes here: Lance’s and the other he isn’t sure who it belongs to.  No one else is on the beach or in the water.  It’s just him and the merman.  He figures this red jacket should be a good fit for the merman, especially since it looks like it’s been abandoned here. Piling all the clothes into his arms, he prepares himself to take the load back to his very rude new friend.

      “Be careful,” the creature calls at him from the small distance between them.  It’s watching the human with concerned eyes - Lance assumes the look on the alien face is concern and not scheming to kill him - even with its own predicament pushing it closer to the edge of panic again.  The raspy voice calls out to him while Lance makes his way back over to the bleeding merman’s side. “Can you get them on by yourself, kid?”

      Lance scoffs, rolling his eyes, however he’s not as confident as he sounds. “Of course I can!” Making sure he doesn’t step in the pooling blood, Lance sits in a cleanish spot of sand as he pulls his jacket on. Putting his socks and shoes beside him, he picks up the bright red jacket. “I found this jacket over there, you can probably fit into this nicely.” He holds it out to the merman, hoping to be thanked instead of treated with more coldness. “Put it on..  Once I get my shoes on,I can probably go get a medical kit from my house. I-I don’t live too far from here, and you can probably-”

      “No,” the creature states in a flat tone, his concerned expression changing into a frown.  He doesn’t even move to take the offered jacket, which is just as offensive as slapping Lance in the face.  “You need to get out of here as soon as you feel like you can  _ safely _ make it up the cliff side again and you don’t need to come back.  If you take the trail to the north you can get up the cliff faster and safer..  It has less moss this time of year.”

      Lance blinks, raising an eyebrow. How does the merman know about the safe paths on the cliff? He’s a merman!  Shouldn’t he only be familiar with the water?

      “I mean, thanks, but you’re crazy if you think I’m gonna leave you like this, dude.  Plus, I’m pretty sure you saved my life so my mom is gonna wanna make you dinner or something.” He starts rambling, forgetting once again that this guy was a merman and not a human.  He’s meeting the strange creature’s gaze while they talk and Lance can’t help forgetting the differences.  It’s strange, really.

      “I don’t think your mom would believe you about this,” the creature scoffs.  It’s shoulders are beginning to shake in what must be physical exertion.  Could it not sit up on its own for long?  “You really shouldn’t have come down here.  It’s not safe, even at low tide.”

      Lance shrugs, watching the merman intently as he pulls his socks and shoes on.

      “Yeah, I actually came down here on a dare.” He mumbles, blinking when he sees the creature’s arms give out.  Lance quickly moves closer and tries to help his mysterious new friend. He’s by the creature’s side in a heartbeat and helping lift it up by its shoulders, the warm scales feeling strange to Lance’s hands.  He tries to calm down the exhausted creature with his words even as Lance holds it off the rocky sands.  “Let me help you, man. I doubt I’m strong enough to climb out just yet.  So let’s focus on what we can do about your injuries til then.” Treating the fact that he’s literally with a merman as if it happened everyday makes this whole situation a little easier to handle right now.  Once Lance has the exhausted creature upright, he adjusts his hands and body so that he’s now standing behind the creature with a leg on either side of its tail and his arms are curled underneath its armpits.  This puts Lance’s chest extremely close to the creature’s back but he can’t see its face.

      Apparently, the merman didn’t understand that Lance is trying to help it.  The rigid fin on its back throws itself up between the two, ridges like a swordfish’s are tipped on some of the spines to cut into any threats such as Lance’s chest.  The creature makes a small noise, almost sounding like a whimper, but Lance misses it as he drops the creature and puts a hand to his cut chest as pain sears where the spines had cut through his shirt and into his chest.  “Dude, what the hell, man!  I’m just trying to help you!  You’re bleeding way too much!”

      The creature had caught itself on his hands, barely staying upright after this much blood loss and whatever was freaking him out before.  Lance barely hears whatever the other is whispering, but it sounds like, “I’m sorry-  Get away from me.  Just.  Go, please..”

      Lance purses his lips, feeling a little frustrated as he finds his chest isn’t as hurt as it feels - kinda like a cat scratch, really.  He feels stronger now - probably from the pain and adrenaline - and figures that he might be strong enough to climb out.  He turns to the the cliff and pauses, looking at the merman one more time.  His conscience won’t let him just leave somebody stranded and bloody on the beach alone, human or otherwise.  Inhaling deeply, he takes a few small steps over to where the merman was currently struggling to sit up again.  He leaned down, holding his arms out to help the creature up.  “I’ll leave you once we get you a little further onto the sand, deal?”  He nods without waiting for the creature’s response, Lance’s eyes are more determined and serious than before.  He recognized that the dude just wanted to be left alone, but mama raised him to have a big heart and show compassion to everyone.  Lance just guesses that he has to include non-human beings under the “everyone” label.

      It’s very obvious that the creature isn’t just hesitating because of his stubbornness.  It blinks a few times, slower than it has at a normal rate before he’d lost this much blood.  Lance can only imagine the fog the other feels right now.  Its words are slow when the creature finally speaks again.  “Fine..  But you have to tell me your name.”

      Lance blinks and pauses, cracking an amused smile at the creature.  “The name’s Lance.”  Lance is almost positive everyone should have heard of him by this point, so his introduction is full of his self confidence and cockiness.  He pulls his arms away for a moment to give the creature some room to breathe and keep calm before Lance asks, “Do you have a name?” Lance has nothing but kindness in his eyes even after everything that’s just happened.  He hopes that the creature trusts him with a name.

      He’s not all that surprised when the creature just shakes his head at the questions, the wet, dark hair splashing him with ocean water at the movement.  Cracking a grin, Lance gets his arms under the creature’s armpits yet again and prepares them both to drag the nameless guy away from the water again.  “Y’know, your hair looks like it could be a mullet if it was dry.  I’m gonna just call you Mullet Head if you don’t have a name.”

      Lance almost hears a scoff come from the guy in his arms but that noise turns into a groan as Mullet Head is drug across the rocks that just keep tearing at his scales and flesh.  He tries to guide the guy’s body as best he can but between his own exhaustion and how much the guy must weigh along with how useless his tail and fins are on land, he’s lucky to even be moving the giant fish.  A trail of red follows their path and Lance has to avoid thinking about what this could do to his mysterious friend.  Maybe he should be taking Mullet Head to the water instead?  Either way, it’s too late. They’re right at the base of the cliff face and Mullet Head seems a lot worse for wear..

      “Uh..  Okay dude,” he tries to start, attempting to drag the huge-ass bloody tail as close as possible while the creature fights to stay awake in the hot sun.  At least he’s off the rocks right now..  “Okay, um.. I’m going to find you some help, okay?  You just... Can you stay here?  I don’t want you going off and dying or something while I’m trying to get you a rescue squad.”

      Mullet Head manages to nod at him and Lance sighs, still worried for the creature that saved his life. Giving a final look to his new friend, Lance heads for the path he’d taken to get down here, disregarding the merman’s advice altogether about the shorter path.  After he reaches the top, he looks over and sees the bright red tail with a trail of darker red leading back to the water.  It’s enough to get him running even with his own problems.

      He reaches the main road in only a few minutes.  It takes him about twenty to get home to his parents.  Even then, he takes a good hour to convince them to bring the truck out to the cliffside, though he can see their doubting him from the start - his mother even bargains with him that they’ll see the cliffside if he sees a doctor afterwards.  All in all, when they arrive back to the secluded beach, nothing remains of his friend other than the blood lost to the sand and rocks.  No shoes or jacket or creature are anywhere to be seen, even as the bushes to the north of Lance’s path rustle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget! July 31st is getting a special update! Chapter 3 will be posted here before 9pm this Sunday!!
> 
> Contact CreepingHeart at:  
> http://a-chance-for-klance.tumblr.com/  
> A very awesome Klance blog that includes CreepingHeart's own writing and suffering about these two lovely idiots!
> 
> Contact DreamcastLee at:  
> http://dreamcastlee.tumblr.com/  
> DreamcastLee's main blog. Some items reblogged here are controversial, as the blogger is very interested in politics this year. She's trying to blog more fandom stuff, she promises.


	3. On the Cliff Top

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The promised Special Update! Chapter 3 is rather short compared to the first two, but I've decided that some of the information in it is extremely important to share.

      It’s two days before Keith manages to get back on his feet.  His legs had been covered in scabs over the shallow cuts and sand coating the larger and deeper ones when he’d finally found himself to have feet again.  He doesn’t know how but he somehow managed to have underwear on when he’d become normal again but his pants were long gone.  Keith honestly isn’t surprised at the fact his pants went missing since he was just grateful he could find his jacket and shirt and leave the beach without anyone seeing him on his way home.  He’s on his couch for the two days it takes him to “recover” if only to keep his job   After the four hours spent cleaning the local pool - he’s shocked when the water doesn’t change him this time, maybe it’s only sea water that causes it to happen? - Keith is exhausted and wants nothing more than some peace and quiet..  It’s late when he heads tries to head home, but his feet lead him back to the secluded beach while he allows his mind to wander.

      He settles into his spot on the northern side of the cliff, hidden from the other path that Lance took by the thick bushes that cover the edge of the forest between the two paths.  He has his phone’s flashlight turned off already when he hears someone coming up the walking path to the south of him.  Keith is careful as he stands and walks back into the woods, hiding from whoever is approaching, and avoiding tripping on anything.  He’d had trouble even walking out here with his legs still healing but he doesn’t want to reopen the wounds on his legs.

      Looking through the trees, Keith is shocked to see Lance through the foliage lit by the moon’s light, already at the end of the path on the cliffside and descending down to the shore.  Keith limps back to his hiding spot and watches to see if he’ll have to save the moron a second time.

* * *

 

      Honestly, Lance isn’t sure what he’s doing out here again. It was just a feeling he got. He couldn’t stop thinking about everything that happened the other day, about how he almost lost his life, about how he was saved, about Mullet Head, about how he ended up leaving him there because his family was so ridiculously concerned with him. He wanted to come back and confirm, somehow, that what happened two days ago was real, that his mind didn’t just create the merman based off of his desires and immediate needs at that moment he needed a savior.

      Lance, while he lay in bed that night after he’d been saved by Mullet Head, wondered if maybe the guy was some type of angel.  Before he could explore that line of questioning, he remembered that it was his mom that was into angels and demons and all that fantasy, not him. However, he did lay awake in his warm bed, wondering if the merman had some kind of underwater bed he could have escaped to.  Did he make it out alive?  Did his blood finally drip out into the water and attract sharks onto the shore?  Did his merman corpse decompose before anyone could even get to it?  So many questions weighed down on the kid’s mind that he just went to bed, deciding that once he was alright again, he’d go back to the cliffs.  Maybe he would see Mullet Head again, if he was really lucky.

      Bringing himself back out of his thoughts, Lance kicked around the sand, hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans.  He was looking for some sort of proof that could confirm that the merman was real.  But Lance was smart and decided to come in the middle of the night where the only light he had was the dim reflection from the moon.  He stayed down there for a good twenty minutes, perching himself on a rock and looking out into the vast ocean.   It didn’t look as threatening as it did against the afternoon sun, waiting to stifle any and all visitors. Here, the serene scene filled Lance with life, and if he had a choice, he would have Mullet Head swim up right about now to hang out with him.  They could maybe talk like friends, and Lance could maybe ask him all the questions he wanted to about his kind but most importantly he needed to know if the Little Mermaid was legit so he could tell his little niece that she really existed.  He chuckled.  That would be nice.  Just having him here to talk to would be even nicer.

      Either way, it didn’t seem like Mullet Head was there and it didn’t look like anybody was gonna show up here at this ungodly hour.  Lance waits for at least a half hour in the chilly night, giving Mullet Head as much time as possible before he finally realized that the creature wasn’t just gonna swim up and greet him with the pretty smile Lance knew those pale lips probably hid.  Hopping off the rock, Lance pursed his lips before climbing back up the cliff, dusting off his pants before taking his short path home. Maybe he could catch Mullet Head tomorrow when Lance comes back.


	4. Keith's Stress Gets Worse

      Keith got to work on his third day after saving Lance from drowning and found himself already in a bad mood.  His legs weren’t healing well.  Even worse, the scabs that cover  where the shoreline had torn into him are almost the same as they were when he first got home after saving Lance.  The absolute worst part has to be his work’s dress code forcing him to wear shorts whenever he deals with the chemicals required to clean the pool.  Those harsh chemicals combined with the water and his shorts being above the knee and showing off his injured legs only makes his usually peaceful job extremely stressful as he bites back any noise of discomfort or pain in case his manager is nearby again.  He can’t afford to miss any work, not until he’s old enough to touch the money that was left to him by his family.  Until then, this is the only job he found in town that’d take him after flunking out of his senior year.

      Sometime late in the evening but still before sunset, his quiet but miserable job is interrupted by a loud voice discussing some trip to the beach for a party.  He looks up just to glare and frown at the noisy group that was hanging around a closed pool but stops when he recognizes Lance with two other people.  Lance and his friends seem to know when Lance notices them because the small guy on Lance’s left offers him a smile as the trio come closer to the fence near him.  Lance seemed to be pulled into his conversation with the big guy on his right, so Keith is spared having the guy looking at his surprised face.  Keith honestly has to admit he’s grateful he doesn’t already have Lance staring at him again.

      The three men are already at the chain link fence surrounding the pool by the time Lance realizes that Keith is watching them.  Keith puts a frown on his face, not wanting to stare or look like an idiot because he recognized Lance from saving his life and seeing him at the shore again last night, and puts the cleaning supplies aside before going to meet them at the fence.  He’s  grateful that at least he’s not limping nearly as bad as he was last night..

      “Keith,” Lance says with a wide grin, “you and your stupid mullet are welcome to come to the beach party we’re having tomorrow, if you’re free.  And by that I mean you’d better come because Hunk and I will tear you and Shiro down in a game of chicken.”

      “Really, we’re just inviting all the players from when Shiro was playing on the soccer team,” the small guy corrects Lance.  Keith really doesn’t recognize any of them being on the Varsity soccer team, but maybe he just dropped out before they were pulled up from the Junior Varsity team?  “So if you want to come by the north end of the beach around three tomorrow, Lance, Hunk, Shiro, and I will all be there and grilling out.”

      “Yeah!  Shiro always grills the best burgers,” Hunk, Keith is just assuming here since the big guy looks like a Hunk, pipes up with a big grin.  “But you can bring something, too.  I’m bringing some potato salad and I think Lance said he’d ask his mom to help him make something.  Pidge, are you bringing anything?”

      “Probably whatever I have laying around at home.  I might be able to snag the marshmallows from the pantry,” he says and looks around Lance to talk directly to Hunk.

      Keith just tunes them out when he notices the look on Lance’s face.  It’s the same look of concern he’d seen before the idiot tried dragging him to the bottom of the cliffs..  “What?” he asks when he has enough with being stared at.  “You have something to say?”

      “Just, dude, what the heck happened to your legs?  It looks like you were dragged across the pavement or something!”  Keith is surprised that Lance isn’t so far off in that assumption.  He’s back to being annoyed when Lance cuts him off to continue.  “Seriously, should you even be walking around with your legs like that?  You won’t be able to swim with them torn up like they are.  Wait, what about the how?  You didn’t answer that!  How’d you tear your legs up like that, huh, Keith?”

      “I went through the woods by my house and got caught in brambles,” he lies.  It’s the story he’d given his manager to keep his job just a little longer.  “Why do you even care?  It’s not like it’s affecting you at all.”  He appreciates the concern but they’d only just met.  Hell, they haven’t even officially met, yet.  This moron called him Mullet Head as though that’s an actual name to give someone!  

      “I’m just offering some concern,” Lance shouts at Keith.  Keith meets the shout with a frown, folding his arms across his chest as though daring Lance to continue.  Which the idiot _does_.  “They seriously look like they’re infected.  You haven’t been taking care of them and you’re not going to be able to go swimming tomorrow with them like that.  How are we going to play chicken if you can’t get in the water?”

      “You aren’t?” he states, though his tone goes high as though he’s questioning Lance.  He sees something like anger flick across the idiot’s face.  “Look, I don’t know you three.  I might roll by to visit Shiro but your inviting me to a party isn’t exactly an idea of a fun time for me.  So, run off and find someone else to invite.  I’ve got a job to do.”

      “A job to do?  Dude you’re nineteen.  We would’ve graduated together!”  Lance’s unspoken, “if you hadn’t flunked out,” only serves as a slap to Keith’s ego.  “Quit being stupid and just come to one lousy party!”

      “Shut up before my manager hears you,” Keith snaps, already fed up with Lance pushing this stupid party.  “Look, if I agree to come by tomorrow, will that get you three to leave me alone so I can finish my shift?”

      Lance’s stupid face beams at Keith and the tall idiot nudges his friends, pleased as punch to make him concede to their invitation against Keith’s will.  “Hey, I know you wanna come see my beach bod, I don’t blame you. Catch you later, Keeeeeith!” Turning around on his heel and waving like the cool kid he was pretending to be, the other two seem to offer Keith brief goodbyes before quickly following after Lance.

      Keith takes a deep breath when he’s alone again at his quiet job.  He limps back over to the pool side, the ache in his legs feeling worse the longer he’s on his feet.  He isn’t surprised when his manager approaches him a few minutes after the three guys left.  One single-sided argument later and Keith is grabbing his jacket while his manager writes his final check.  He’d been fired from his only source of income because of those three idiots creating a ruckus the disturbed his manager…

      Stuffing the check in his pocket, he heads out of town towards the cliff face.  His mind races to deal with the new problem of being without an income and without a support network while his aching legs limp him out to his cliff.  It takes him a half hour to get there on foot and it’s a struggle for him to get down the northern path with his legs still raw.  Somehow he manages, though, and he finds a safe spot for him to hide his shirt, jacket, shorts, and socks and shoes.  He checks that no one is around before he heads for the water in just his underwear.

      Since saving Lance, he has done everything he can to avoid water but he’d found the water in the pool doesn’t cause the change he’d experienced.  After he’d discovered that fact, Keith had tested out the water at his farm home only to find it doesn’t cause the change, either, nor does his well water that he’ll be living off of once his water lines are shut down from the town.

      The tide is high once again when he reaches the edge of the shore.  He looks out at the water, remembering the pain he’d felt when his body was changing.  Keith takes a deep breath before he finally steps into the waves.

      The pain returns almost instantaneously but, once he focuses on the pain, he finds it to be centered only where the water touches.  Hissing at the pain in his feet and legs, he carefully pulls his leg out of the calf deep water only to find bright red scales covering the wet area of his skin.  His eyes go wide with fear and he lets his foot land back in the sand under the sea water.  Forcing himself to take deep breaths, Keith wades out further into the waves, feeling the initial burn of saltwater in his wounds turn into a deeper pain as scales build and take over his legs.  Finally, he holds his breath when the water is up to his stomach and he dives under the waves.

      The painful sensation spreads across his body, biting at his face and ears even as it gnaws at his limbs and back.  He continues to swim further out, his legs no longer kicking behind him but a long tail moving up and down to propel him forward much faster than he can realize.  The sensation reaches his eyes and he opens his mouth to cry out, losing the breath he’d held before diving.  Keith starts to feel panicked at the lost breath but he’s even more scared when he realizes his lungs aren’t even burning.  It’s almost as if he’d not lost the held breath and is simply holding it still.  He pauses in his swimming, cracking his eyes open - the salt water not burning them in the least - and moving aside a scaled arm to see the slits on his ribs from before are now open and breathing for him.

_Gills_ , he realizes as he tries to turn in the water.  He can feel the fins on his tail flaring as he readjusts himself in the water again and again, trying to see more of his body.  In the dark water, he should be struggling to see, but he finds his vision unhindered without light from the setting sun.  Popping back up to the water’s surface, Keith looks around for the shore a few hundred feet away.  He frowns, the longer canines piercing the inside of his bottom lip, and begins the swim back to the rocky shore.  He’d take longer to dry out and change back without the sun…  Maybe this wasn’t a good idea?

      He realizes just how bad an idea this was when he recognizes a tall man on the shore, seemingly waiting on him.   _Lance_.


	5. A Chat Goes "Well"

      “Hey, Mullet Head!” Lance called out, a huge grin on his face as he waved as fast as he could.  He _knew_ it.  He knew if he kept coming back, he’d see him again.  Excitement rushing through his bones, he was compelled to yell louder and wave even faster than before. _This is the greatest thing ever_ , Lance thought.  Seeing his mysterious friend again meant he wasn’t as crazy as his parents thought he was. He watched the merman swim up to where he was standing, and Lance made sure he got a good look at his face this time. It seemed vaguely familiar, but that was probably because he had just seen him the other day and in his dreams.

      Mullet Head seems to be concerned about something but that doesn’t put Lance off.  He just smiles wider and walks over to kneel in front of the merman at the edge of the water.  “Don’t bother getting on those rocks again.  You lost a lot of blood last time you did that, remember?  Where’ve you been, dude?”

      The creature pulls himself onto a patch of wet sand that's safe enough for him, his red tail still in the water for the most part, and meets Lance’s eyes with his own blank, yellow ones.  

      “What do you mean, where have I been?” it demands in a not nearly as friendly tone.

      “Dude, I came here last night and the night before and you were nowhere.  You just up and disappeared before I could come back with my family to get you somewhere safe,” Lance explains.  His brows are furrowed in confusion at how defensive Mullet Head looks with his dorsal fin raised and his body otherwise all but daring Lance to make a move for him.  “I got worried that you’d - I dunno - died or something…  But you’re here now!  And I’m pretty sure you’re not dead, Mullet Head!”

      “You got worried because a stranger you barely know was hurt and disappeared?”  Those yellow eyes are seriously so confusing to Lance right now.  Mullet Head looks shocked and touched at just the idea of someone being concerned for him but the creature’s body language is still just _so_ threatening…

      Not even the flared fin deters Lance as he answers with a cheery, “Yeah, of course!  You kinda saved my life and put yours at risk just to do it, so I definitely worried for you.”

      The conversation stops for a moment as the creature looks away from Lance and out to the water.  Mullet Head’s dorsal fin slowly lowers against his back, letting Lance watch as the ridges fold on top of themselves to lay as flat as possible - or so he guesses since it's out of sight for the most part.  Mullet Head _has_ to be a fast swimmer with something like that going for him.  Other than the hair on his head, the guy’s body is streamlined.  Lance looks over the creature in the fading sunlight, taking in everything he can in the silence.

      The tail alone is nearly as long as Lance is tall.  The bright red color has flecks of purple scales throughout but is especially mottled between the shades anywhere that skin blends into scales.  The slits on Mullet Head’s ribs are covered in small, purple scales that spread across his back and chest.  Lance notices that the scales on Mullet Head’s shoulders and hands are especially red while the ones that decorate his arms are purple still.  He almost wants to reach out and take the creature’s hand in his own, curious to see if there’s even more differences there..

      “What’re you staring at?” the creature demands suddenly, snapping Lance's attention from those scaled hands up to the glowering face of Mullet Head.

      Lance is so shocked by the sudden voice that he falls on his butt to the wet sand in the least coordinated movement he’s made since graduating high school.  “Geez!  I’m not staring at anything, got it?” he shouts, already on the defensive after being startled.  This somehow backfires because now the creature raises an eyebrow at him.

      “You were staring at me.  Why?”

      “Well, why wouldn’t I?  You’re a freaking merman!  Mermaid?  Whatever you call yourself,” he exclaims, a smile growing on his face as he finds his excitement at this situation once again.  “An actual, real life, genuine merman!  Mullet Head, you’ve no idea how cool this is.  No one in the world thinks your kind exists!  I’ve got to have you meet my friends tomorrow!

      “We’ll be on the north part of the tourist beach if you want to join!  There’ll be me, Hunk - he’s a really big guy but he’s also really good at all these math equations that we did in school -, Pidge - he’s a really smart planner for our soccer teams, but he doesn’t really play -, and Shiro!  Shiro’s totally my best friend who’s going to college upstate right now and he’s totally the coolest guy you’ll ever meet.”

      Lance looks at the merman, expecting an immediate yes and enthusiasm to match his own.  Instead he’s met with a blank face as Mullet Head starts to lay down on his stomach in the cool, wet sand.  Mullet Head folds his arms in front of his face and nestles his chin on top, looking bored.

      “Not happening, Lance,” Mullet Head says with a flat tone that Lance already doesn’t like.  “I’ve got other things I’m doing tomorrow.”

      “Oh yeah?  Like what?  Kelp gardening?”  At least Lance thinks he’s funny.  “Dude, come _on_.  It’ll be fun.  You just pop by, we’ll give you some hot dogs and burgers, and you can be on your way.”  Harassing Keith had ended up working in Lance’s favor, so maybe it’d work with Mullet Head?

      “No.”  
      Apparently not.

      “Mullet Head, please?” he asks again, moving to poke the creature’s long, frilled ear.  It twitches when he pokes it.  He watches as the ear curls in on itself at being touched.  Freaky.

      “What?” Mullet Head asks, picking his head up and looking at Lance with something that looks like concern.  “You’re staring again, Lance..”

      Lance blinks, immediately looking away after being called out.   
      “H-hey, I can’t help it, your ear just curled up on itself.” He points out, kicking the sand around idly before he could stare again. “It’s not like I get to see a merman every day.”

      “Neither do I, but I don’t stare,” Mullet Head points out.

      Lance looks up at that.

      “You mean you don’t have some kind of mermaid community? Aren’t there tons of you down there?” He asks, motioning towards the ocean.  Lance waits a moment before he realizes that Mullet Head isn’t looking at Lance even with their facing each other.  He feels something heavy settle in his stomach as he realizes something.  “Don’t tell me you’re all alone…”

      Still the creature doesn’t say anything.  Mullet Head turns to look away from Lance, looking up at the northern side of the cliff face as though he wants to be over there.  The sight is heartbreaking and Lance finds his thoughts spiraling out of control at the thought of Mullet Head being alone.  Lance perks up when he hears the creature speak again.

      “I don’t know about being alone in the ocean,” Mullet Head admits, his gaze still on the cliff.  “I’m still new to all of this.”

      Lance raised an eyebrow in silent confusion. New? New to what, exactly?

      “New to talking with a human?” He tries to finish the thought for him, attempting to make sense of what he just said. “New to being on the beach? New to the area?” Lance is trying here, but he isn’t making much progress unless Mullet Head decides to respond.

      Even as Lance continues with more things Mullet Head can be new to, the creature shakes his head and the dark hair flicks salt water around.  “No..  Just..  Just new to this,” Mullet Head says as he looks down at his own body.

      “To your body?” He asks, the mystery deepening. “Do you, uh, transform into something else?” He isn’t sure what else he can change into, but Lance hopes it’s like a dragon or something.   _That_ would be the coolest thing ever.

      Mullet Head seems to nod slowly at Lance’s questions.  “I..  I think so..”  The yellow eyes move back to look into Lance’s.  Lance can almost make out fear in the gaze set on him.  “Lance..  What do I look like?”

      “Pretty,” Lance blurts out, and he can feel his ears go about ten degrees hotter to meet the warmth already rushing to his cheeks. “I - I mean, well, yeah, you are really pretty. Like...  Like something out of a fantasy book,” he explains while rubbing the back of his neck.  Why was Mullet Head asking, anyway?

      Mullet Head shakes his head again, picking himself up with just his arms and holding himself at eye level with Lance.  Yellow orbs look into his own eyes as the creature scrutinizes him.  
      “Can you give me details?  What’s changed?  I can see my chest right now and my legs are gone,” the creature says once it pulls back out of Lance’s personal space.  Mullet Head pulls his tail closer across the rocky shore and drying sand.  The motion has to hurt with the injuries he’d sustained so recently.

      Legs?  So his old form had legs.  Interesting.  “Well, for starters, you’ve got a gigantic ass fin on your back.  And your ears are wild.  Like, frilly?  And they curl if I touch them.”  He struggles to describe his friend and instead reaches out to brush the outer ear gently with his finger to see it happen again.  “And you’re purple and red at the same time? Scales everywhere.”

      “Is that all?” he asks, one hand moving to touch his own ear after Lance touched it.  Just scales and a large fin on his back?  His ears are strange..  Like a cone..  “I..”

      “A - And your eyes, they’re yellow.  Which is cool!” He searches for words to use, but instead gets an idea.  Scrambling in his pockets to find his phone, he opens the camera app, snaps a photo of the confused creature, and points it towards the merman so he can see.  “I thought maybe mermaids had mirrors down there, but I’m only working off of the facts I got from a Disney movie.”

      Mullet Head is silent as he looks at his image on the screen.  Lance can see the merman stop breathing and watches the color drain from Mullet Head’s already pale face.  Lance frowns when the merman pulls the phone from his hands, seeing the purple scaled webbing that melds the merman’s fingers together.  He watches as Mullet Head looks at himself with breaths growing increasingly shallow and ragged.  Maybe he needs back in the water?  Looking down his tail, Lance is surprised to see the water has receded from Mullet Head’s body.

      “Hey, hey, calm down, it’s okay? You don’t look that bad?” He tries to comfort him, carefully placing a hand on his scaly shoulder.  “Why not you let me help you back in the water?”

      “Don’t,” Mullet Head all but shouts, his hand with Lance’s cell phone lashing out with a closed fist.  He manages to hit Lance.   _Hard_.  Right against the temple, Mullet Head’s fist smashes right into and tries to smash through the person “attacking” him.

      Lance cries out in pain, his vision blurring immediately after such a hard hit to his head.  He barely manages to keep himself upright, catching his hands on some sharp rocks to keep from eating the rocks.  His head feels like he’s underwater and he hears some loud noise even as his cell phone is dropped beside his hands.

      He keeps himself upright as he fights to keep himself awake.  Lance looks up when he feels two clawed hands trying to grab his shoulders and pull him off the rocks.  He hears his name called a few times as the ache in his head gets to be too much.  His vision starts to go dark just as he feels his head loll back against a scaly shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support through this story! CreepingHeart and I are still loving every bit of feedback we receive on AO3 and Tumblr. If you ever want to contact one of us, I've listed our Tumblrs in an earlier chapter's notes! I've got a lot more in store for these two and can't wait to post next week!
> 
> *Special Note:  
> I loved being able to do a special update at 500 hits, so I promise that if this makes it to 2000 hits before next Friday (8.19.16) then I will do another special update!
> 
> **Double Special Note:  
> First fan art where I was @'d! Thank you so much!  
> http://stary-foxes.tumblr.com/post/148655294292/so-i-did-a-lazy-little-doodle-for


	6. Up The Cliff And Through The Woods

      It should have taken Keith hours to change back.  Between his being frantic in trying to rouse Lance and Keith trying to wring his hair with the nervous habit he’d broken years ago, he somehow manages to dry off in under an hour.  Until he does change back, his tail is pulled close to give him balance as he cradles Lance to his chest while he makes sure the idiot is still alive.  Keith groans in pain when his body finally deems him dry enough to change back, the process of changing between forms just as uncomfortable one way as it is the other.  Forty minutes have passed since he knocked Lance out with a wayward fist when he was trying to throw the phone away.  He’s really terrified for Lance at this point since the moron is still passed out.  Getting up on his own unsteady legs, Keith tries to pick up the dead weight of the taller boy.  He’s still fighting off his panic attack from seeing his other form but for now he’s stuck in a secluded area in just his underwear, dragging around some moron who happened to know his secret - or at least some of it.

      He takes a while to drag and carry Lance across the rocky shore, but he somehow finds enough energy to find his clothes and get dressed before he _really_ tries waking Lance.  He smacks the idiot’s cheeks a few times, trying his best to get him to stir or something/  When that doesn’t work, Keith pulls the Lance’s jacket off of him and glares at the salt water.

      Dreading the possibility of getting himself wet, Keith heads right for the water.  He’s quick to collect water in the jacket before running back as fast as he can and letting it drip over Lance’s face.  Keith gives a relieved sigh when Lance cracks his eyes open and makes a noise.

      “Lance,” he calls to the guy he’s holding a dripping jacket over.  He sets the jacket aside and kneels by Lance’s side before helping him sit up.  “Lance, hey, wake up.  I need to get you out of here but I can’t carry you on my own.  Lance, wake up.”

      Lance is way out of it.  His head must pounding from the swelling on his head, his vision has to be blurry since it’s obvious his eyes won’t focus, and Keith hopes Lance’s memory is fuzzy or else he’s going to have to come up with a good lie.  But when Lance finally opens his eyes and forces them to focus on Keith’s face, Lance doesn't seem to take his surroundings or who he’s looking at into account.

      “What the hell, Mullet Head?” He almost screams, his arms flailing to hit at Keith’s chest as he holds his friend - is that what they are? - off the ground. “I was just trying to show you what-” Lance stops, his connecting the dots that Keith is holding him up, not Mullet Head. “Keith? What are you…  Where did…  Where’s Mullet Head?” he asked, his words only a little slurred at this point.

      “I need you to focus, Lance,” Keith insists, concerned by the slurring.  Does Lance have a concussion?  Keith knows he’s going to have to act  innocent with this whole mess, or else he’s going to have to reveal the truth to Lance.  He briefly hope that Lance doesn’t recognize his red jacket from the first night Mullet Head had saved Lance.  “You were passed out.  We need to get you to a hospital.”

      Lance obviously wasn’t listening to Keith.  He seemed too distracted by worrying about his “friend”. “Why did he punch me?” Lance asks Keith.  “He asked me what he looked like so I just… I just showed him…  I took his picture and showed him and he just - He hit me, Keith.” His tone was a painful mixture of disbelief and betrayal, and his expression matched it.  “Did he run off again?”  
“Look, I don’t know who you’re talking about, Lance,” Keith insists, trying to give himself some emotional space from the pain he sees in Lance’s face.  “Something might’ve upset your friend or maybe he went to get help.  Either way, we need to get you out of here and to a hospital.  Your face looks really messed up where he hit you.”  

      Once again Keith tries to help Lance to his feet, feeling his heart racing with everything that’s happening.  Keith knows he’s going to have a meltdown if he keeps this up, but he can’t just leave Lance like this.  As bad as he feels right now, his adrenaline has kicked in enough that he can stomp down his panic for now, but he knows he just needs peace and quiet to get it out of his system.  Lance isn’t going to give him that, though.  Not like this.

      Lance complies with Keith trying to stand him up.  Once Lance is on his feet, he looks out into the ocean, a big frown on his face. “Great, Mullet Head's never gonna come back to see me now,” he mumbled before turning back and leaning against Keith for help with standing.  Keith tries to support his friend while Lance suddenly does a double-take, as though he hadn’t realized who was helping him.

      “Keith, what are you even doing here?” he asked, sadness still tinging his voice just enough to make Keith’s gut turn with guilt.

      “I come here a lot to just relax,” Keith admits, helping keep his friend upright.  “Look, you need to -”

      “You come here a lot?” Lance repeats, interrupting whatever Keith was about to say. “Then..  Did you see the merman?  Today?  He was just here…  And also a couple days ago, too..  He saved my life then.”  Keith knows Lance must be trying to recall everything he knows about Mullet Head, which isn’t much, but Keith is really getting worried for the taller boy now.  Keith can feel Lance swaying in his arms, barely able to stay on his feet, much less on a single train of thought.  “He's got really pretty scales and a bright, red tail and some _crazy_ ears and also hair that’s…  Kinda like yours, maybe?  If it was dry.  And his eyes were really bright yellow and I feel like they could glow in the dark, maybe.”

      “Lance, come on, forget about that.  You’ve probably got a concussion or something,” he explains, trying to keep Lance on his feet.   Keith knows he has to get Lance to see a doctor and soon.  “There’s an easy path to the top of the cliff in front of us, Lance.  It’s shorter than the one to the south.  I want you to go first and go slow.  I’ll come up right behind you and I promise I won’t let you fall.  Do you think you can do that, Lance?”  

      When he doesn’t get an answer beyond continued ramblings about Mullet Head, Keith starts to get annoyed.  He tries moving Lance towards the cliff face to get him climbing, but mermen are obviously more important than the moron’s health.  Having enough of it, Keith asks, “Wait, what about a phone?  We could call for help for you, right?”

      Lance checks his pockets with one hand, his face showing alarm when he couldn't find it in them.  “M- Mullet Head probably took it!” Lance practically screams, not bothering to look around as Keith holds him upright still.

      “Geez,” Keith groans at the shout.  He guides Lance to a nearby rock and helps the moron sit down in his panic over losing a phone.  Keith tries his best to take even breaths, scared he’s going to break down with this amount of stress and the amount of time he’s having to suppress his own panic.  Keith walks back to where they’d been sitting as merman and human and searches for the phone in the sand nearby.  In a few moments, he returns to Lance with a sandy phone in hand, his limp returned back from the stress on his legs.  His shorts are already sticking to the front of his thighs, the fabric having taken the scabs off and now coated with blood from his injuries.  “I’ve got your phone here, Lance,” Keith says, passing the phone to the scared boy’s hand as he kneels in front of his friend.  “Call for some help for yourself.  I can’t carry you up the cliff, so can you at least call for someone to come?”

      Lance exhales when he has his phone in his hand, his color already returning but his mind obviously not. “Maybe we should Google how to attract a merman,” he mumbles.

      “Lance, that’s the exact opposite of what we should do,” Keith says, losing his patience with the rocks digging into his bloody shins.  “What I need you to do is to climb the cliffs so I can get you to a hospital!”

      Keith doesn’t really receive a response from Lance.  But suddenly Lance stands and starts for the cliff, leaving Keith to limp behind him while Lance starts his ascent without a word.  Apparently Lance was strong enough for that.  He has Keith close behind as they climb in silence, each boy feeling more than enough pain and panic as they make the slow climb.  Keith is still terrified he’s seriously injured Lance somehow.

      They soon make it to the top of the cliff and Keith offers Lance a brief smile before grabbing Lance’s arm and wrapping it around Keith’s shoulders, taking the possibly concussed boy’s weight on his own bleeding legs.  “Let’s get you to the road.  You can call your family from there.  They’ll get you to a hospital to have your head checked out..  And, fair warning, you might not want to mention a merman to the doctors.”

      “Dude, he was real. I swear.” Lance purses his lips.  Keith can only guess what’s going through Lance’s mind, but he’s almost positive Lance is thinking up different ways he can blab about Mullet Head. Keith is surprised when Lance fishes in his jeans pockets to find his phone and dial his mom before briefly telling her a merman-free version of what happened.  Lance admits to ‘slipping’ on a rock and hitting his head while on the beach.  Keith hears Lance’s parents promise to come get him in a few minutes and Lance exhales in relief.  Keith is barely able to hold them both up when Lance slumps against him in relief.

      “Your family seems worried about you,” Keith comments as he holds them both up.  He takes a deep breath before starting them through the forest towards the road.  “Did you not tell them where you'd be before you came out here?”

      That earns a pout from Lance.  “Maybe I did,” he says, stumbling on his feet even with Keith all but carrying him.  Keith has to grind his teeth not to make a noise at the pain shooting through his legs as he walks them through the dense forest trail.. “What about you?  Your family must be freaking about your being gone, mullet.”

      Staying quiet, Keith chooses to ignore the comment about his own family.  He doesn't have to explain his life story to someone who's only caused him trouble!  Keith guides Lance back to the road, ignoring any further questions or remarks Lance makes to get a reaction out of Keith.  He makes sure that the taller boy isn't about to pass out but he doesn't encourage any real chatter between them.  In Keith’s mind, Lance doesn't need to know his history.  No one does, really.  

      Once they reach the roadside, Keith helps Lance sit down, kneeling on the ground beside him - his bloody legs being bitten by the gravel road as the sharp rocks on the shore had done - and checking the swollen bruise on Lance’s temple.  “I’ll make sure you get to your parents, but you have to keep quiet about that mermaid you keep talking about.  There's no such thing,” Keith tries to insist to the other boy.  

      Lance blinked, looking at him like he wanted to fight back.  “But Keith, he's real!  I’ve seen him twice already.  Granted, he's physically hurt me both times, but he also saved my life!  And I can’t just let him go,” he argued weakly.  Keith wonders if Lance’s head is aching.  He watches as Lance closes his eyes before leaning against Keith.  “He kinda sounds like you too, actually,” Lance mumbles.  Keith could barely hear him even with them being close, so he’s not sure if he caught that last part right.

      “You're talking about fairy tales, Lance,” Keith argues, uncomfortable with the close comparison to himself and the merman.  He just hopes Lance is dumb enough to not draw the conclusion or maybe that he just forgets about all of this…  “You're probably making up this merman.  I've never seen anyone at the cliff side before today.”

      “No, dude, I’m not,” Lance insists, opening his eyes again to weakly argue back.  Keith’s a little surprised to see so much fight in such exhausted eyes.  “He's real.  He saved my life. And I…  I want to be his friend, Keith,” he admits, reaching up and touching Keith’s ear before he continues mumbling.  “He had cool ears, too…  They’d curl up if I touched ‘em.”  Keith hears Lance’s voice fading and he reaches to hold his friend’s hand.

      “Lance?” Keith calls when the other boy starts to slump over.  He wraps his arms around Lance’s chest in an effort to keep the taller boy upright as they sit on the side of the road and wait for Lance’s family to show up.  “Lance, come on, this isn’t a time you can just fall asleep.  You have to wake up..!  Don’t do this!”

      Keith holds Lance upright when the taller man slumps into him completely.  He groans at the pain in his legs from supporting both their weights on the gravel.  Without really thinking, Keith lets Lance’s hand go so Keith can stroke the other boy’s hair in a failing attempt to get it off Lance’s temple.  This is all Keith’s fault and the guilt is eating him alive.  He feels the flutter of panic starting to build in his chest again as his mind races through all the possible horrible outcomes that could happen just because of tonight.

      The red pickup truck comes barreling down the empty road, pulling over as fast as it could and interrupting Keith’s derailing thoughts. A tall, broad chested man came racing out of the passenger’s seat door, yelling at the boys to see if everything was okay. The man was accompanied by a shorter, more rounded woman from the driver’s side, worry and fret in her eyes as she spotted her son passed out on the side of the road, as the pair rush to the boys’ aid.

      “A- Are you Lance’s parents?” Keith asks as the couple come closer.  He assumes they are given the fear and concern he sees in the mother’s eyes, but he isn’t certain.  “He’s passed out again.  I managed to get him up the cliff but he’s not okay..  He needs a hospital.”  Keith waits for accusations to start flying.  He fully expects that Lance’s parents blame him for what happened to Lance but, like Lance, they defy his expectations.

      “He’s always finding some way to get into trouble,” Lance’s father claims as he carefully picks his son up from Keith’s arms.  Once Lance’s father has the taller boy upright, holding onto Lance by his waist with his arm across his father’s shoulder, he begins moving his son back to the truck.  This leaves Keith alone with Lance’s mother while he’s still kneeling on the gravel on his bloody legs.

      She still looks worried, but turns to Keith and suddenly her eyes are even more compassionate than Lance’s were - if that’s even possible.  It’s almost unnerving for Keith to see that look again after he’d just hurt the first person who ever looked at him like that.

      “Thank you for waiting with him.  You must be a friend of his.  Come, we’ll give you a ride home.”  She doesn't really give Keith a choice.  She’s smiling kindly as she puts a hand on his back, helps him to his feet, and guides him to the truck without seeming to hear any of Keith’s protests or claims of being able to get home on his own.  She doesn't bother with formalities - completely ignoring the fact she’s never met Keith before - and just begins telling him what to do, she instructs Keith to sit in the back with her son and support his head while she illegally speeds to the hospital with her husband in the cab.  Keith spends most of the ride worrying for Lance and wondering how Lance’s mother could treat him as though she’d known him for years without even knowing his name.

* * *

 

      It was silent in the car for a moment before a warm laugh emanated from the front seat.

      “That boy is so crazy, the other day he made us fill the back of the truck with water and drive down to the cliffs to pick up some…  Some mermaid, was it?”  She looked to her husband, who shook his head tiredly and rubbed his temples.

      “I don't know what we will do with him,” he sighed, staring at the road in resignation.

      “We’ll have to start off by getting him to the hospital,” she states.  “He’s gotten himself hurt yet again…  We’re going to _have_ to keep him away from that beach again.”

      “But how?  He can sneak out of the house anytime he wants.  If I put my foot down, then he’ll only _stay_ at that cursed beach!”

      “He’ll do what he wants, but I’m sure his friend would be able to help us convince him,” she argues.  “Do you recognize him?  Because I’ve never seen Lance bring him around the house before..”

      “No, not that I know,” Lance’s father says.  He turns around in his seat to look at the two, seeing the back of the boys’ heads as Lance is cradled in his friend’s arms.  “Looks like he’s Lance’s age..  Maybe he’ll agree to help us get this mermaid idea out of our son’s head?”

      Lance’s mother gives a quiet sigh after a moment, finally getting into town and having to slow the truck to an “acceptable” speed.  “Let’s hope.  Lance needs more friends than that young girl and Hunk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is still so well received by so many people! Please don't hesitate to contact me by my Tumblr: dreamcastlee.tumblr.com
> 
> *Special Note*  
> I loved being able to do a special update at 500 hits, so I promise that if this makes it to 2000 hits before next Friday (8.26.16) then I will do another special update! Yes, I know I promised this withe the last chapter, but I want to post more and share faster with everyone when I have multiple chapters edited.


	7. In The Hospital

      For Keith, the night is a blur.  Somehow they get to the hospital and Keith finds both himself and Lance being helped out of the truck’s bed.  Lance’s parents guide them both inside the too bright hospital where nurses soon come to take Lance from them.  Keith bites his tongue when Lance is taken from his sight.  He doesn’t want to cause a scene, not in front of the guy’s parents.

      He finds his eyes feeling heavy soon after Lance was taken back for examination.  Keith fights with his exhaustion for a while now that his adrenaline has died down and he’s left with the after effects of a panic attack he never had and saving Lance’s life again - after putting him in danger.  Folding his arms in front of his chest, Keith leans his head back against the wall and tries to relax even though he doesn’t want to sleep.  He just wants to not break down in the middle of the hospital’s waiting area.

      Keith fails to stay awake for long, but he wakes with a start by snapping his head away from the wall behind him.  He realizes he fell asleep since he no longer hears Lance’s parents quietly discussing what happened.  Now, there’s absolutely no one nearby.  He looks around the hospital lobby with a frown.  Where are the nurses?  What about Lance’s parents?  Wouldn’t they have woken him if Lance could be seen?

      Taking a moment to calm down his growing panic, Keith stands up and hisses at the sharp pain in his legs as they fight to hold his weight.  Again he looks around the lobby but still sees no one in the bright room.  He doesn’t like this…  Everyone must be busy with work and family, but it still leaves Keith feeling uncomfortable with the silent room.  Walking around only causes him pain from his legs but he’s not going to rest again until he finds Lance.  He wanders down some halls and notices a reflective window pane that looks weird.  He frowns and walks closer to get a better look at it.

      Keith looks at his reflection in the mirror and feels his whole body tense up in fear at the sight.  Bright yellow eyes are where his own _should_ be.  His dark hair only accents the red and purple scales that cover his face and frilled ears.  His sharp teeth have very obviously tore into his lower lip with the blood dripping down his chin, clinging to the scales that accent his face.  His mouth opens in a silent scream as he tries to lash out at the creature looking at him - approaching him!  The beast seems to be coming out of the mirror, its webbed and scaly hands grabbing at his arms as he tries to fight it off and -

* * *

 

      “Good lord, you sure are a fighter,” Lance’s father laughs when he finally sees his son’s friend’s eyes open and meet his own.  He offers the terrified kid a smile, not wanting to upset him anymore than he already is.  “Thought you’d like to know Lance is awake again.  Doctor said he’s just got a bit of swelling on the skin and no brain damage - that wasn’t there before.”  He grins when his wife clears her throat while glaring at him.  “He’s fine, though, if you want to go see him.  My wife and I need to call his brother and sister to let them know he’s okay.”

      Keith can feel his heart hammering away in his chest, his eyes darting between the calm adults standing over him.  He takes a deep breath, mostly to calm himself but also to make sure he doesn’t have gills again, and sits up as he relaxes.  “I..  Yeah, okay,” he agrees once he’s sure that he isn’t changed.  “Where’s his room?”

      Lance’s mom pipes up at that.  “I’ll walk you there.”  She touches her husband’s shoulder before he steps aside so Keith can get up.  That same look is on her face as she’d given him before, the same one he’d first seen on Lance…  Once he’s on his feet despite the ache in his legs, Keith walks with Lance’s mom back to Lance’s room.  He’s glad when she doesn’t mention his limp or how irritated the injuries are on his legs.

      There are a few halls they go down before they’re in Lance’s room.  Keith keeps his face neutral even as he feels relief flood through him as he takes in the sight of Lance in a hospital gown and bandages across the side of his head.  The idiot seems to just be smiling and talking already, despite Keith _just_ stepping into the room.  Lance’s mom has a hand on the small of Keith’s back and he really isn’t able to argue as he’s guided to sit in the plastic chair by Lance’s bed.

      “Keith, you’re here! I thought maybe you woulda gone home or something!  Sure is nice to see a familiar face!” Lance chirps happily, acting as if he hasn’t seen anyone in ages. “Thank you for helping me out back there, buddy. Oh, hey, while you’re here, you should get your legs checked out,” he advises, moving the focus yet again to his legs.

      “Do you _ever_ shut up?” Keith asks, giving an annoyed sigh at the immediate conversation Lance is trying to put them in.  “Seriously?  I probably should’ve just gone home.  Especially if you’re going to be insisting on my seeing a doctor for a couple scratches.”

      “Keith, dude, just go get some neosporin or something, man.  It’s physically hurting me to see your legs like that.” He sighs, looking like he’s not going to argue about this and instead looking to his mom for help only to find she’d left the two alone in the room.

      “I’m fine, Lance.  I can’t really bother going all the way home right now with my bike at home and this place being a good hour’s walk back to my place,” he admits with a shrug.  They’re both sitting here for a while, so Keith considers this to be a fair opportunity to check how badly he’d hurt his only friend.  “So how’s your head?  Your dad didn’t seem to be worried about brain damage - which I can’t blame him if you’re being serious about those mermaids.”

      Lance’s face falls again and he winces when he tries to touch his bandaged-up head.  “I feel like you’re joking. You gotta believe that I’m not joking about this, man.” He mumbles, looking at Keith in disbelief.

      “There’s seriously no such thing as mermaids,” he tries to insist.  Keith does his best to keep his face straight, wanting to make sure that he doesn’t give himself away.  “You’re just making stuff up and trying to get people believing in your crazy story.”

      “It’s not a crazy story,” Lance tries to argue.  “I really saw him, dude!  He was big and had a bright red tail and yellow eyes  I even took his photo and everything!”  Keith hopes that he doesn’t look as distressed as he feels right now…  “Seriously, I swear that I’m not crazy, Keith.  You have to believe me, dude..  No one else will.”

      “You’re talking after knocking your head on a rock, Lance,” Keith reminds.  He folds his arms across his chest to hide his shaking hands.  He doesn’t know if he likes how persistent Lance is about this secret…  “You probably just dreamt it before I found you.”

      The look on Lance’s face feels like an attack on Keith’s heart.  Lance looks so hurt and defeated and apparently it can carry through his voice, too.  “I thought you of all people would believe me, Keith..  You said you’re at that beach all the time.”

      “I am,” he admits, “but I’ve never seen anyone else there before you.”

      Keith looks Lance over, feeling even more guilty at the bruising that spreads past the bandages and across Lance’s cheek.  “Are you still going to that beach party?”  Keith asks only to change the topic, his heart feeling heavy after making Lance go through this.

      “Uh, yeah, of course!”  He yells at first, but then winces from hurting himself by yelling too loud.  “Maybe not…”  He sighs, gingerly trying to poke at his temple.  “I don’t know, but I want to.”  He pauses.  “Why, are you gonna go?”  The disbelief on Lance’s face almost makes Keith laugh.  He doesn’t know why Lance would ever expect him to show up to a party.

      “No, I probably won’t,” Keith admits.  He sighs, trying to relax in the uncomfortable chair and ignore his pains.  His legs hurt a lot and his sleep really hadn’t been that restful…  “I’ve got to do some other stuff.”  Resumes don’t get written and jobs don’t get applied for while playing and partying.  Keith doesn’t want to admit to Lance of all people that he’d lost his job.  He’d find something else, hopefully.  Hopefully he’d find it soon, too.

      “Really?  Like what?” Lance presses.  “Got a pretty girl you’re taking out somewhere?” he teases, a cocky grin on his face.

      The last question throws Keith enough for him to look at Lance with nothing but innocence as he says, “No, why would I do that?”

      “Because why else wouldn’t you come to a party with your old bros and _hot dogs_.  Who could pass that up?”  He sniffs and starts to pout for some reason.  “Maybe I’ll go see if I can find Mullet Head again.  Maybe I can bring him some of my mom’s food or something.”  Lance pauses before continuing, “I’d like to think we’re friends..  Even with his attacking me, I don’t think he really meant to hurt me..  He looked like he was panicking about something and I think I probably spooked him..  Plus, he knows my name.  His voice is pretty nice, too.  Keith, maybe we can look for him together tomorrow if you aren’t taking a pretty girl out?”

      Keith just stares openly at all the rambling thoughts coming out of Lance’s mouth.  “Dude, you’re kidding, right?” he asks, looking at him with disbelief.  “I’m not going hunting for mermaids with you tomorrow.  I’ve got to find a job.”  The sentence comes out before he can stop himself and Keith watches as confusion starts to show on Lance’s face before it goes back to that concerned face Keith dreads.

      “Don’t you work at the community pool, though?” Lance asks.  “Why do you need another job?”

      Looking away isn’t really an option Keith has at this point in the conversation but it’s the option he chooses.  It’s easier than keeping eye contact with Lance while he asks questions.  It was hard enough having those worried eyes staring him down when he’s changed but to have to deal with Lance being worried for him now, as a human…

      “I just need another job.  I don’t see why you’re asking about it,” he says as though that’ll shut Lance down from this conversation.

      Lance seems to think for a moment, just a moment, before he opens his big mouth again.  “Maybe I can hook you up?  I can ask my parents if they need any help on the farm?  They have enough money to pay you because they sure as hell don’t pay me.  You don’t even need a resume, dude, they’ll probably hire you on the spot because you helped me out today.”  He nods, deciding for Keith that this would be the best course of action.  “And if your legs get scraped up, my mom would probably take care of you rather than you just leaving yourself to suffer.”

      “I’m not being left to suffer,” Keith argues, already wary of the offered job.  “And I’m not just going to accept a job from you, Lance.  I can find something on my own.  I don’t have to rely on others to get my living.”  He does appreciate the offer, but with Lance hounding him on his legs after losing Keith his job, Keith can’t help but be annoyed with Lance.

      “Okay, fine, you can ask them yourself as employers. I’ll pretend I’m asleep and everything,” he insists before looking into Keith’s eyes for affirmation.

      “No,” Keith denies once again.  “I can find a job in town on my own just fine, Lance.”  

      “It is in town, technically,” he begins again, pouting at Keith’s denial. “Plus, it’s only like five minutes away from the cliffs you like!  And that’s if you’re in a car.  It’s a fifteen minute walk or something.”

      “I’m not working on your family’s farm, Lance.  I’ve got enough work at my house to deal with,” he snaps.  “I get that you want to help, but I can find a job on my own without you.”

      “Why are you being so stubborn?” Lance finally breaks, confusion and hurt showing on his face.  It’s almost enough to break Keith’s resolve right then and there…  Almost.

      “Because I lost my job because of you,” he snaps, not meaning to say any of that.  Between the pain in his legs and this conversation wearing him down more and more after his nightmare left him in such bad shape, Keith is surprised he’s taken this long to snap at Lance.  It’s all just an excuse, but he’s at the end of his emotional rope and he can’t help it.  “I’m not going to just accept handouts when I can work for my place in town.”  The hurt on Lance’s face nearly takes the breath right out of Keith’s lungs.  It certainly forces him to avoid the other boy’s gaze out of guilt.  He braces himself for Lance to verbally fight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for giving this fiction the attention that you have. I know that this is going to hit 2,000 soon enough, so as a special treat, I'm going to publish a double update. I love having the responses and feedback I've gotten from all of you.
> 
> If you have any questions or ideas or comments that you want to be private, feel free to contact me via Tumblr at DreamcastLee! I'm always more than happy to hear from everyone, even if it's just an emoji.


	8. Feather Pillow

      “I..  You lost your job because of me?” Lance asks, his voice surprisingly small even to him.  “Keith, dude, you’re kidding, right?  How could I make you lose your job?  I only visited once.”  He’d had Keith’s eyes on him up until this whole argument about work and now Lance feels an ache to have those dark eyes glaring at him again.  Had he really cost Keith his job?  He couldn’t have, right?  There had to be more to it than just him and Hunk and Pidge visiting.

      Keith’s whole body looks defeated to Lance’s eyes.  There’s a slump to his shoulders that wasn’t there a moment ago, the stern line of Keith’s mouth is pulled down just enough for Lance to notice a frown, Keith’s folded arms look tense even under the red jacket he has on - that jacket looks familiar…

      “Keith?” Lance calls, starting to move to the side of the bed in an attempt to get closer to his suddenly silent friend.  “Look, buddy, if I can do anything to help you, just say the -”  
      “I don’t need your help, Lance,” Keith snaps, his head snapping back towards Lance to meet his offer with a glare.  Even to Lance, Keith looks more upset than angry.

      “Okay, so you don’t need my help,” Lance tries to compromise, his hands raising to show he isn’t looking for a fight.  This almost feels like he’s trying to calm Mullet Head back down...  He can see how on edge Keith is and can’t help but feel worried for the guy.  “Look, dude..  If you don’t want help, that’s fine.  But you should at least consider taking some time to rest up.  Your legs look like they’re going to get infected if you don’t take care  of them.”

      Apparently that wasn’t a good thing to say either.  Keith’s glare seems even _more_ harsh now.  Geez..  What Keith can do with just one look..

      “Or not, fine.  But I’m not going to let you just walk out of here.  Stay put til morning, alright?  You need to rest, too,” Lance points out as he moves to lay in his uncomfortable bed as an example.  That must’ve been acceptable to Keith because the stubborn dude finally sits back in his plastic chair and looks like he’s almost relaxed.  “Uh..  You can have a pillow from my bed, if you want,” he offers his friend.

      Keith looks at him, considering the offer, and finally nods in agreement to taking a pillow.  Lance tries to smile as he passes over one of the feather pillows to Keith.  For once the other guy smiles back and Lance feels his heart skip at the sight.  Keith really can look kind and relaxed if he wants to stop glaring at everything.

      “Well, uh, get some rest.  It’s still late,” Lance says quickly, already diverting his attention from Keith’s smile that quickly drops when Lance lays down fully.  Pulling the thin hospital blankets up to his chin, Lance smiles again for Keith in an attempt to see the other guy smile again before they sleep.

      He doesn’t get what he wants.  Instead, Keith just tucks the pillow behind his head and against the wall.  Lance looks at the idiot with the stupid mullet.  He sees the long lashes that frame those dark eyes, the small frown that seems to always be present on those pale lips, the way Keith’s deep breath seems to relax his whole body even with his arms still folded across his chest…

      Lance is okay that he didn’t get to see Keith’s smile again before they both fall asleep.

      What Lance would consider a peaceful sleep is interrupted pretty early in the morning by some sneezing near his bed.  He groans and rolls over, his aching head throbbing with each hissing sneeze he can hear.  “Shut up,” he groans, trying to convince whoever woke him with all that noise to just be quiet.  “I’m tired..”

      “Sorry,” a raspy Keith-sounding voice answers from behind Lance’s back.  Oh.  Right.  Keith is in his hospital room.

      “Dude, what’s up with the noise?” he complains as he finally convinces his body to sit up again.  “You sound like you’re a leaky tire.”

      “Yeah, I know,” Keith admits, looking embarrassed.  Although, maybe his face is a little too blotchy to be embarrassed?  Lance frowns and moves closer to his friend.

      “You feeling okay?  You weren’t sneezing like that last night, Keith,” he points out even as the other guy sneezes again.  It’s kinda funny.  Keith’s face scrunches up and his hands cover his mouth and nose - gross, didn’t he learn any sneezing etiquette - and it’s a weird kind of sneeze that makes Lance want to laugh at his suffering friend.  “Geez..  Maybe you should be the one in this bed.”  
      “Not funny, Lance,” Keith complains with a watery eyed glare.  “I think that pillow you gave me had feathers in it.”

      “Why would that matter?  You allergic or something?”

      That earns Lance a frown.

      “Yes.”

      “Oh.”

      Both are quiet for a few moments - other than Keith’s sneezing - before Lance thinks of anything to say.

      “Do you have any allergy medicine?”

      “No?  Why would I?” Keith asks, confusion on his blotchy face.

      “Well, if you have an allergy, you should take, like, allergy medicine like Benadryl or something, right?”

      “I guess.”

      “I think my parents have some at the house,” Lance tries to offer.  Yeah, that blotchy red isn’t really something that should be okay.  Just how allergic is Keith to feathers?

      “I’ll be fine with what I have at my own home, Lance,” he states, sneezing again before giving an annoyed sigh.  Lance can’t help but feel concerned for his friend.  First Keith’s legs are injured like they are, then he loses his job and blames Lance, and now he’s having an allergic reaction to a pillow Lance had given him.

      “Or, you could just come back to my place and rest for a bit.  I’m sure your parents won’t mind, Keith.”

      Lance doesn’t know what exactly set his friend off but suddenly Keith is on his feet and heading out of the room.  Any calling after Keith falls on deaf ears.  Lance frowns and relaxes back in his bed, wondering what set Keith off this time.


	9. An Empty Home

      The walk to the hospital lobby takes Keith a while since he isn’t sure where he’s going and all the halls look the same.  The fact his eyes are tearing up so much and he can’t stop sneezing isn’t helping  _ at all _ .  Once he gets to the lobby, Keith notices that Lance’s parents were nowhere to be seen.  Maybe they’re actually abiding by the hospital’s visiting hours?  Most of the nurses still remember Keith from last year so he’s gotten away with breaking the hours rules before, but he just finds it weird that Lance’s parents would be alright with Keith staying alone in their son’s room through the night.

      He doesn’t really stop to consider the long walk back to his home.  Keith just starts walking on his injured legs.  He hardly feels the pain anymore, especially now that he’s dealing with his allergy.  Taking the shortest route to his home, Keith makes it in just under two hours.  His legs are burning and his head is aching but he feels relieved to finally be home after the crazy days he’s had.

      While he stumbles upstairs to his bathroom, Keith thinks about his past few days.  Everything feels wrong to him and it’s not just because of his allergic reaction to the stupid pillow.  He looks through the bare medicine cabinet for some antihistamine to help with his watery eyes and dripping nose.  He gives a sigh when he realizes he doesn’t have the right medicine.  Keith knows he’ll be fine, but he dreads having to put up with the symptoms in the meantime.  He closes the mirrored medicine cabinet and frowns at the reflection he sees.

      He’s human.  The fact is obvious to him.  The only thing strange about him now is just that he’s red and blotchy with some tears in his eyes.  He doesn’t see a sign of scales or yellow eyes.  Opening his mouth, he sees normal teeth.  Everything is normal.  Until he pulls his lower lip down and sees where he’s healing still from his other form’s fangs piercing the skin, Keith can’t find any evidence on his face of the change he’s experienced twice now.  His inspection of his face is interrupted by his sneezing again only to smack his head into the mirror he’d been leaning much too close to.

      Keith groans at the headache he has forming and opens the medicine cabinet.  At least he has something for that.  He quickly swallows a couple pills to help with the pain before shutting the cabinet again and heading out of the bathroom.  His bedroom is across the hall and he decides that a nap is a worthwhile investment of his time.  He’d been through so much and still hasn’t been able to put any time into sorting out what’s happened to him..

      Walking into his room, Keith doesn’t bother turning his light on.  He leaves the door open behind him as he heads to his twin bed.  Kicking off his shoes, Keith happily falls into his bed, crawling under his white sheets and grandmother’s quilt only to curl up on his side.  He’s dozing soon enough, the medicine helping put him right to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final special update that I will be able to give for a while now. Classes have started for my college, so I want to make sure everything is properly spaced and edited before I do multiple updates again.
> 
> I'd love to hear from you all! Tumblr @dreamcastlee if you ever want to chat or ask questions.


	10. Breaking and Entering

      “You’re kidding, right?  Why’re we going all the way to his house if you just got out of the hospital today, Lance?” Pidge demands.  The question goes unheard by Lance and Hunk which leaves Pidge pouting behind the other two.

      Hunk gives a sigh.  He’s carrying the food Lance’s mom demanded they take to Keith’s home since he’s all on his own.  “Pidge is right, Lance.  You should be at home and resting.  Didn’t you fall last night and hit your head?”

      “Guys, look, I’m _fine_ ,” Lance insists, turning to walk backwards so Pidge can see him smiling his usual cocky smile.  “Just got a good hit from Mullet Head.”  Lance ignores Pidge piping up to protest the merman’s existence.  “I’m all good now.  Keith, though..  The dude’s got something going on.  He said he lost his job yesterday.”

      Pidge just frowns at Lance’s showing off.  “You should still be resting.  Hunk and I can drop this off for you.  Your mom even said that you could stay behind if you didn’t feel well enough.”

      “Yeah, but too bad.  I feel fine, Pidge.  My mom is just worried cause that’s what she does,” he claims and turns forward again.  Lance looks at the plastic bag his mom filled with good food they’d had leftover from Lance’s siblings visiting a few days ago.  Maybe Keith would appreciate all of this and reconsider the job offer.  Lance’s dad sure could use the help and Lance is the last person that’s any help with motors and machines.

      “Yeah, well, I think it’s kinda cool that your mom thought to have us bring Keith food, considering everything,” Hunk says.

      “Considering what?” Lance asks, looking up at his big friend with a raised brow.

      “Well, the guy lives alone, right?”

      Pidge is the one to answer that, much to Lance’s surprise.  “Right.  Since his grandparents died last year, he’s been living here alone.”

      “Woah, woah, woah, woah!” Lance shouts, looking between his two friends in shock.  “You’re kidding, right?  Why didn’t I hear about this?”  Keith’s living alone is news to Lance.  Since when did Keith lose his grandparents?  Where are his parents now?

      “It happened last year when you were trying to impress those cheerleaders before midterms,” Hunk says.  “Remember?  Coach approached us about getting on the Varsity team in the spring because there were some openings.  Keith’s was one of the positions.”

      Lance stops in his tracks, his friends stopping with him and exchanging a look that he doesn’t quite understand.  “He’s seriously been alone since then?”  Lance’s voice is a lot quieter than he expected.  “What about his parents?  Doesn’t he have a family?”

      “Y’know, Lance, not everyone has a big family like you,” Pidge states, trying to be gentle for Lance but not succeeding.  “I’ve got my dad and brother overseas but my mom and I are doing just fine without them.”

      “Pidge,” Hunk scolds quietly before looking at his best friend.  “Look, dude, I dunno what his family’s like.  No one really knows much about him beyond what his grandparents talked about when they came into town.  My parents told me that his family isn’t too big on being in the community.  Bit of an opposite from yours, really.”  

      “Huh…”  Lance seemed shocked, still not sure he comprehended.  How could someone live alone for such a long time and _not_ want to seek companionship at all times?  It was difficult to process.  They continue walking, Lance silent for once in his nineteen years.  Hunk and Pidge exchange looks a few times as they finally reach the farm Keith lives on.  It’s late in the afternoon when they finally approach Keith’s door.  Lance is the first to get the courage to knock on the door.

      When there’s no answer, Lance frowns and turns the doorknob.  He’s honestly surprised when the door opens.  Did Keith not lock it?

      “Lance, maybe we should come back later,” Hunk tries to convince his best friend.  Lance has that look on his face.  Hunk won’t be able to stop Lance if the guy decides he’s going to force his help on poor Keith.  “He might be busy.  Didn’t you say he’d lost his job?  What if he’s out in town and job hunting?”

      “Hunk, don’t be such a baby,” Lance teases as he pushes the door open.  He grins and hurries inside the silent farmhouse before he stops in the hallway.  It’s so...  Dreary.  There are some photos on the walls of an elderly couple and children but Lance doesn’t recognize any of them.  He walks around the hall in amazement as he looks at each photo - not one of them showing Keith.  Somehow he manages to make his way to a doorless frame that opens into a cozy living room.  The overstuffed furniture just screams a loving home with family gathering and happy faces, but the dust that Lance notices just makes him feel sad.  What had happened?  Why is Keith living alone at nineteen?   _How_ is he living alone at nineteen?

      The living room isn’t he only room Lance can tell is going unused.  Walking past the dusty furniture, he finds the dining room.  It’s still garnished with a flower vase and doilies as the centerpiece on the long, rectangular table.  Keith must have a large family for there to be this many chairs, right?  The china cabinet at least looks like it’s clean.  Does Keith actually take time to keep it clean?  And what about the fresh flowers in the vase?  What’s going on?

      “Dude,” he whispers.  All of this makes Lance feel worried for Keith.  The boy doesn’t seem that lonely, but maybe he’s worse off than Lance thought..  Heading into the next room, Lance finds a quaint kitchen.  At least this room seems to be alive.  He can see that there’s fresh produce on some counters and some dishes drying in a rack by the sink.  Doesn’t this guy eat any meat?  Curious, Lance opens the fridge and finds almost nothing in there.  A jug of milk, some berries, and some cheap fish from the discount market.  Lance shuts the fridge door with a sigh.  “Geez.”

      “What’re you doing in my home?” Keith’s voice demands from behind Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this is the final double update! I'll be making sure to keep to my regular schedule of updating every Friday between noon and 3 p.m. CST, so keep an eye out!
> 
> I love hearing from my readers, so don't be afraid to chat with me through comments or dropping a message over on my Tumblr @dreamcastlee.


	11. Caught Red Handed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! We hit 3,000!! I can hardly believe it! If you have any au ideas or ideas for stories, feel free to message me on my klance-only blog, klance-and-a-half.tumblr.com

      “I asked what you’re doing here, Lance,” Keith repeats when Lance turns around and gapes at him.  Was something on his face?  The rash must’ve gone away given how long he’s been sleeping.  “How’d you get in my house?”

      “Uh… Through the door?”  Lance suggests, glancing over to where he entered the kitchen.  Keith’s gaze follows only to see Hunk and Pidge in the doorway with a plastic bag in Hunk’s hands.  “Mom made some food for you.”

      “You three came into my house, uninvited, through the front door?” Keith asks, obviously doubting the story.  He _always_ locks the door.  There’s no chance that -

      “Actually, we did,” Hunk admits, interrupting Keith’s thoughts.  “Sorry about that.  Lance just kinda...found that the door was unlocked and we were worried so we thought we could help or something.”

      “We weren’t really breaking in,” Pidge adds before Keith has a chance to say anything.  “We kinda were just entering.  Not all that illegal.”

      “Forget it.  Just get out,” Keith states, raising a hand to have them stop talking.  He wants to rub at his temple, his head aching from having so many people in his home all at once.  It’d been ages since anyone else had even been here.  He’d grown used to the silence of the aging home.

      “W-Wait a sec.”  Lance steps around Keith from where he’d cornered the taller boy and takes the bag of food from Hunk, turns around and holds it out for Keith to take.  “From mom.  She wants you to eat these and also come back to my place so she can fix you up,”” he recites, nodding and looking at Keith with hope in his eyes.  “You can't really say no to my momma.”

      Keith folds his arms, being stubborn again.  Why would he just accept handouts like this?  He can take care of himself.  He has for nearly a year now.  “Guess I’m someone who really can say no to your mother.”

      Lance really should have expected it, but he apparently was still shocked at being turned down.  Not only that, but even Keith can see anger boiling along with the hurt in Lance’s face.  “Are you fucking serious right now, Keith? You have jack shit for food in your fridge and literally this is my fifty-two year old mother just trying to say thank you for taking care of me after Mullet Head hit me! Just for once in your life, stop being so goddamn stubborn.” He slams the food down on the kitchen counter, emphasizing his frustration.  

      “I’m not being stubborn,” Keith snaps, taking the bait.  If his head wasn’t aching and his legs weren’t burning, then he would’ve been able to ignore Lance’s goading him.  “I happen to prefer being in my home!   _Sorry_ if I don’t want to leave just ‘cause your mom wants me to come by!”

      Lance takes a couple breaths before responding. “You are stubborn. So stubborn that you won't even accept food that my momma put her time and effort and love into making. How cold hearted could you be that you can't even see past your own selfish worries?” There is an edge to his words, biting and rude and meant to hurt as much as possible.  It does.

      “Get out,” Keith states, his voice flat and his eyes glaring at Lance’s stupid face.  He hopes the others don’t notice his arms shaking.  He hopes they don’t push this and that they don’t demand he comes with them.  Keith doesn’t have the patience to put up with this - he’ll break if they really push and he’s terrified of them winning.  He’s fine being alone.  He can take care of himself.  “Get out of my house.  All of you.”

      And they do.

      Keith hears Lance mumble as he storms out of the room, “I should have told momma not to waste her breath.”  He hears Lance storm back through the empty home, seeing the condition that Keith is living under once more.  “Why would anyone want to be nice to someone like you?!” he hears Lance shout once he and the other two are at the door.  He hears his front door slam and a photograph crash in the front walkway.

      Keith closes his eyes and leans against the counter once the home invaders are gone.  His head hurts really bad but he knows he doesn’t have enough money to get more medicine if he takes it all for a headache.  After a few moments, he looks at the bag of food that’d been left.  He pulls it open and looks at the different meals he’d been given.  Keith gives an annoyed sigh when he spots a piece of paper in the bag.

      He pulls the paper out and looks at it.  On it are hand written instructions from Lance’s mother telling Keith how to get to their farm if he changes his mind about not coming back with Lance.  Is she psychic or something?


	12. Stubborn Pouting

      “Dude..  That was kinda harsh,” Hunk says as they head back down the front steps.

      “I don’t care!  That stupid mullet made it personal when he said that about my momma!”  Lance fumes.

      “He didn’t really say anything about your mother,” Pidge points out.  “He just said that he wasn’t going to come back with you to your home.”

      “Exactly!” he shouts, his arms thrashing out in his rage.  “He’s so stubborn!  I would give anything to have a chance with my family and he just turns his nose up at us!”

      “Lance, I really don’t think he turned his nose up at you,” Hunk tries to say, knowing that Lance is too busy fuming about the argument.  “Dude, really.  Keith is just from a different family setting.  Why not come check on him later when you’re both feeling better?  You’re supposed to be resting, remember?”

      Lance opens his mouth to argue, but then pauses and slowly closes it.  They were right, but he was still peeved. “Fine,” he mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets and dropping his head to the ground.  He hated rejection, especially when the offer was made out of kindness.  Keith was an impossible enigma that literally nobody could figure out.

      He knows that his friends exchange looks but he doesn’t move his head from his position.  He’d done everything right to make friends with Keith _and_ Mullet Head.  How could he be messing up two friendships at once?  Mullet Head at least makes some sense - they aren’t exactly all that similar.  But Keith should be happy to be friends with him!  They’d been rivals all throughout high school!  Well, up until his grandparents had apparently passed away…  Maybe he should’ve been more worried about Keith before now?  Just how long has Keith been alone like this?

      “Guys,” Lance says when they get close to the fork in the road.  The east path takes him to the cliffs where Mullet Head lives while the road that goes west heads to his home.  “I think I’m going to just stay in tonight.  You two go into town without me.”

      Pidge frowns at him, Lance knows it without looking.  But he doesn’t hear any protest from the pipsqueak, so he takes that as acceptance.

      “Lance, are you sure about that, bud?” Hunk asks.  “Pidge and I can hang out at your place if you want.

      “Yeah, I’m sure,” he says.  “You two go on.  I think you were right about me needing rest.”  It’s a lie but Lance doesn’t have any other explanation.  He’s going to have to face his mother and explain what happened and how Keith has been living.  Lance is positive that he can’t do that in front of his friends.

      “Alright, dude..  But you’ve got to swear you’ll come by the beach tomorrow.  Shiro rescheduled the party since you were in the hospital, alright?”

      Lance smiles to his taller friend, nodding so Hunk knows that he agrees.  “Yeah, I’ll be there, promise.”

      “Good, cause it’ll be boring without you there, dude,” Hunk cheers, patting Lance’s back to get a smile out of his best friend.  Looking around Lance to their shorter friend, Hunk grins.  “Pidge, c’mon.  We’d better get you home before dark.  Your mom worries.  Plus you said she was making snickerdoodles today!”

      Lance smiles as he watches his friends head back into town.  They’re great.  As angry and upset as Lance is with Keith, his two friends help him stay straight about things.  Lance sighs and heads for his own home once he gets the courage to face his mom about this.

      Coming up to his large home, much larger and more open than Keith’s, Lance smiles at the bright white his dad paints on the siding every year.  The blue shutters his mom insists Lance repaint and fix every year only make the farm house even more welcoming to Lance.  He briefly wonders if Keith would feel the same or if the sight would make him uncomfortable.  Rather than track any mud on the front porch, Lance heads to the back of the house where he can hear his mother cooking their dinner through the closed screen door.  She’s always singing or humming whenever she cooks.

      Lance’s mood lifts as he opens the door and sees his favorites being made for dinner tonight - something his momma does every Thursday night.  Tomorrow will be leftovers, but Lance loves when her cooking is fresh.  “Hey, momma,” he calls with a smile, seeing her turn away from the overburdened stove with a confused look when he isn’t accompanied.

      “Where’s your friend, Lance?  I thought I said for you to bring him home with you,” she scolds as she turns back to the beans she’s cooking.

      “Well, momma,” he says, moving to sit on the kitchen stool, “I may or may not have screamed at him before leaving his house…”


	13. On The Rocky Shore, A Heart Bleeds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4,000 hits! Oh, my! I honestly didn't expect this fic to have this big of a response at all, and now with thirteen chapters I've had so many eyes on my writing. I can't help but thank each and every one of you. I want to especially thank those of you who have left me comments to read and respond to. Thank you all so much for your support. I hope to someday hit a halfway point with this story and I hope you stay with me to find it.

      Lance and his friends had only been gone for an hour before Keith leaves his home.  He locks the door and puts his house key in his jacket pocket with a sigh.  All of this had been too much…  Keith heads towards the cliff he knows and loves.  When he reaches the last fork in the road before he reaches the cliff, Keith looks at the road he’s never gone down - Lance…  Frowning at the too recent memory, Keith shoves his hands in his pockets and stubbornly watches the ground as he heads to the cliff face.

      He doesn’t hesitate to climb down the rocks to the sand.  Rather, Keith welcomes the opportunity to exert himself.  He even takes the longer route that Lance stubbornly insists on just to get the extra exercise.  Once he’s on the sand, Keith doesn’t hesitate to pull his clothes off and head for the low tide.  He’s angry and upset and hurt.  Lance’s words hadn’t fallen on deaf ears.  But Keith isn’t going to think about Lance.  He’s had enough problems because of Lance.  All of this _is_ Lance’s fault, after all!

He hesitates with his feet burning in the wet sand.  Keith is almost certain that scales are starting to appear on the bottoms of his feet…  He doesn’t want to handle everything being thrown at him.  His mind has been struggling to handle even one thing at a time since he saved Lance from drowning.  He can’t fight himself about being a monster at the same time he keeps running into Lance time and time again!

      Closing his eyes, he steps into the calm waves lapping at the shore.  He takes his time wading out further and further, letting the sharp pain in his legs swell more and more even as Keith begins to swim.  He doesn’t let himself recognize when his legs stop walking and a tail starts guiding him.  He doesn’t allow himself to feel the burning sensation spread across his torso, arms, and head.  Keith just swims.  He doesn’t think, doesn’t let himself struggle with his fears or guilt.  He lets the water beat against him as he dives below and allows himself some time where nothing is going to reach him.

      In all honesty, Keith isn’t sure how long he’s under the water’s surface.  Minutes or hours are equally likely, but he supposes hours is a better guess given the light.  When he surfaces, Keith notices the sun is below the horizon whereas it had been in the Western sky before he dove.  He wonders if he should head back to shore before deciding that to be a good idea.  Swimming back towards the rocky shore, Keith pauses halfway back.  

      What the heck?!

A single figure is sitting on _his_ beach.  Keith glares at the familiar outline and slowly heads back to shore.  He tries to stay as hidden as he can in the calm waves, but he’s worried Lance will see him.  He doesn’t want anything else to go wrong between them.  Watching Lance for any movement as he gets closer, Keith finds himself freezing anytime he thinks he may be spotted.

      Lance is sitting in the sand with his knees pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on his arms - even at this distance, Lance looks sad.  But the sadness diminishes for a moment when Keith allows his head above the water.  Just as Keith feared, he watches as Lance hurries to stand once Mullet Head is spotted.  Fearing the worst, he dives back under the water and silently begs Lance to just leave the beach altogether, to not chase after the creature in the water.

      Apparently his wishing is for nothing because he soon sees the moron’s legs and arms in the water and heading directly for where he’d been only moments ago.  Keith glares at the appendages since he can’t glare at Lance’s face right now.  He realizes that he’ll have to surface again or else Lance might go out too far and find the currents, risking Lance’s life all to see a merman who he’d yelled at as a human.

      Hating himself and Lance, Keith slowly breaches the surface when Lance is a few yards away and swimming in a circle to look for Mullet Head on the surface.  He starts to glare at the annoying boy but sees the bandage on the moron’s face and feels a pang of guilt swallow and kill his anger.  He hopes his face isn’t any more expressive than it usually is, but from the look Lance is giving him…  Keith is almost certain that Lance knows how he feels right now.

      “Lance, I - “ he tries to start but finds that he really doesn’t have the words.  He can’t apologize for what happened.  He’s not really sure how he’d even hurt Lance this time beyond Keith panicking and suddenly he’d hit the other man.

      “It’s okay.  I came to apologize for freaking you out,” the idiot tries to explain.  Lance purses his lips as he stays afloat, his legs kicking underwater to keep his head above water so he can chat with Mullet Head.  Keith can swear he _feels_ the kicks through the water but he tries to focus on Lance’s words.

      “Why would you apologize?” Keith asks.  He’s sure that his surprise shows on his face.  Lance would never apologize, would he?  As bad as Keith feels about physically hurting Lance, maybe Lance would understand..?

      Lance’s face was kind, even as he looks hurt.  “I - I could tell you were stressed.  Maybe it’s because of something I did, I don’t know, dude, but…  I’m sorry, Mullet Head, “ he apologizes again.

      Keith frowns at the second apology.  He finally notices that Lance’s head is starting to dip in the water and his feet aren’t kicking as hard.  Is he already getting tired?  His attention goes back to conversation when Lance asks between labored breaths, “C-can we maybe go back to the shore?”

      “Yeah, just,” Keith starts to say, swimming closer even as he watches Lance to make sure the other doesn’t strike him back, “shut up and let me help.  You nearly drowned last time you were out this far.”

      “Oh, yeah,” Lance chuckles back.  Keith swims closer and surrounds Lance with his tail and an arm, finding no signs that Lance has any intention to fight Keith’s assistance.  As Keith tightens his hold on Lance, he’s surprised to hear Lance utter, “Sorry,” for a third time.  If this is how he apologizes to Mullet Head, then he can only imagine what he’ll say to Keith.

      Even as Keith ensures his arm is around Lance’s chest, just under his arms, he’s surprised to feel the water by his tail ripple as though Lance is still kicking beside him even with his tail keeping them both afloat.  The thought almost makes Keith smile when he realizes how little Lance wants to burden his friend, “Mullet Head.”  Almost.

      Keith gets them close enough to the shore for his tail to be scraping the rocky sand under the waves before he pauses at the apprehension he suddenly feels.  He frowns at the shore that’s caused him so much pain over the past few days, dreading having to drag his body across it at all.  “Lance, maybe I should stay out here..”

      As soon as the words leave his mouth, Lance seems to hop out of Keith’s arms and scramble his way onto the sandy shore.  “You can stay out there,” Lance calls once on the shore.  Keith sees Lance look over at his pile of stuff for a moment before a dawning look takes over Lance’s face as he seems to remember something.  “I brought you some food!  I’m not sure how you’ll eat it from all the way out there, dude, but I brought forks and spoons, too.”  Keith can see that Lance is smiling even with the large bandage on his head now dripping wet from swimming in the ocean, and Keith almost feels something stir in his chest at the infectious smile.

      He doesn’t think as he worries his lip, tasting blood before he stops and takes a deep breath to stop that stirring feeling and keep his face straight.  Keith swims for the shore slowly, taking care to not aggravate his injuries any further than they already are after swimming for so long today.  He finds a less rocky patch of sand that he heaves himself onto.  After taking a while to struggle to get the majority of his tail out of the water, Keith manages to sit himself upright and attempts to look confident even in his uncertainty of accepting Lance’s food.  He’d turned Lance down solidly before as a human.  Is it really any different to have Lance offering food and help now to Mullet Head?

      “Lance, you didn’t have to bring anything, you know.  I have enough already,” he tries to lie to save his dignity.  He’d never even thought of accepting hand outs.  His family had always refused even in the worst of times…  He’s honestly surprised when Lance walks over with a similar container of leftovers to what he’d left at Keith’s home earlier in the day.

      “I - I know, but,” Lance seems more cautious than he was earlier today at Keith’s house.  Maybe he realizes how he messed up?  Or maybe he’s just worried Mullet Head is going to hit him again?  “It’s just-.  Look, dude, my family talks through food: apologies, thank-you’s, I love you’s, _everything_.  That’s…  That’s just how we work, dude. I’m not even sure we know any other way.  So this is my “sorry”, y’know?  For freaking you out before.”  Keith watches as Lance turns his face away from the eyes that Lance called yellow, as Lance looks out at the darker waters rather than smiling at Keith again.

      Keith hesitates before answering, not wanting to misunderstand anything but also not wanting to lose an opportunity.  Lance wouldn’t even look at Keith again after what happened today.  Lance must be furious with Keith..  “If I accept the food, will you stop blaming yourself?  I mean, you didn’t make me panic earlier.  I’m just..  I’ve got a lot going on right now.  I shouldn’t have attacked you,” he apologizes, hoping that this will be enough to get those dark eyes back on him.

      “I-It’s okay, don’t worry about it.  I’m fine, see?”  Lance grins and gestures to the sopping wet bandage as if that’s supposed to make the merman feel better.  “I just…”  He can’t seem to find the right words and yet he’s looking back at the container of food and not Keith.  “I just don’t want to be… uh… a burden, y’know?  Yesterday…  I mean, I found out _today_ that I caused my friend to lose his job and he had some kind of allergic reaction because of me and I screamed at him, too…”  His voice is low and just a few decibels over a whisper.  “I feel like I fucked up everything, I think..  And I didn’t want to do that with you, too.”

      Keith wonders if he looks as torn as he feels.  Lance is honestly regretting the things he said?  Or is it the culmination of all the things he’s messed up for Keith?  Or maybe the moron has felt guilty for each one and Keith is just now hearing about it?

      “And how would you manage to mess up a merman’s life, Lance?” he asks, sounding more snappy than he meant.  He wants to offer his friend some comfort but he doesn’t know how without incriminating himself.  “Whatever you did to that friend, I doubt you’ll do it to me.  Heck, you can’t make the jobless lose their job.”

      “I dunno… With my luck, you’ll probably get eaten by a shark because of me or something.”  Keith can see Lance’s face had no sign of humor for once and that makes Keith’s stomach drop.  “I don’t want to mess up what little we have.  I kinda really want to be friends, but I’m not very good at “friends” today.”

      “That makes two of us,” Keith admits, wanting to offer Lance some comfort.  He wonders if Lance is going to find out or if he’ll figure out who Keith is…  Somehow the thought fills him with dread.  He wonders if Lance will accuse him of something.  Maybe Lance will be disgusted with him for hiding himself like he has…

      Lance is silent for a bit before he speaks again.  “I just _know_ he’s never going to want to talk to me again.  Which really sucks.  I was such a jerk.  I mess everything up, you know that, Mullet Head?  Like, everything. Always.”

      “I doubt he’s _never_ going to talk with you again,” Keith argues with Lance being so dramatic.  Keith frowns when his attention is drawn away from Lance’s sulking by a pain starting in his tail.  Is he drying out already?  If he’s drying out, then he’ll change back and have to deal with even more stress with Lance.  He doesn’t have time to deal with this _and_ Lance being worried about their nearly non-existent friendship.  Pulling his focus back to his sulking friend, Keith tries a new tactic.  “Lance, whatever you messed up with him, I’m sure it’ll blow over.  You’re friends, right?  Don’t friends let small things slide?”

      “I don’t think he really wants me in his life.  So far, I’ve kind of just showed up and he dealt with me being there.” Keith sees that Lance is being torn about from guilt by the slump of his shoulders and the downcast eyes.  He never thought he’d see Lance with anything but his cocky smile and stupid raised brows.  He seems so sad, so hurt…

      Is this Keith’s fault…?

      “Lance, I’m sure that’s not true,” Keith tries to insist.  He braces himself as he drags his body across some rocks to get closer to Lance.  “Just..  Whatever it is, forget about it.  Your friend is probably beating himself up, too.”

      It’s not a lie in the least.  Keith’s guilt is only getting worse as he looks up at Lance’s face.  There’s absolutely no excitement or feistiness in his face or actions now.  It’s almost as though Lance has lost all of his energy.  Maybe…  Maybe trying to put up with Lance was only making everything worse for Lance, too?  “Lance, if he’s causing you problems, maybe you should consider not being his friend anymore?”  Keith watches Lance’s face.  Keith knows he’ll hurt when his only friend agrees to cut off ties with him, but it’s worth it if he knows he’s helping Lance feel better.  

      “No, I can’t do that, dude.  He’s all alone…  I can’t - I can’t even imagine what it’s been like for him.”  Keith is honestly shocked at Lance’s words and - wait.  Is Lance tearing up?  Oh, geez, he is!  Keith can even hear Lance’s voice starting to waver just a bit at the threatening tears.  “He’s..  Mullet Head, he’s all alone.  He doesn’t have any family or friends..  You should’ve seen his home.  I can’t imagine living somewhere that quiet and empty.”

      Keith’s shock turns to annoyance as he realizes that Lance is pitying him.  So what if he’s lived alone for nearly a year?  He happens to _like_ the solitude it gives him!  He _likes_ having his say be the final say in his life.  He _likes_ the silence his home gives him.  “Some people prefer to live that way, Lance.  You shouldn’t pity him for living differently than you.”  

      “It's not pity, man, it's just….  I dunno.  He doesn't deserve that.  He deserves to have a nice family that loves him and comes home every night and asks him how his day was, y’know, _family_ stuff.”

      “No, I really don’t know,” he admits.  Family stuff had always been a little cold and a little distant for Keith but he still felt loved by MeeMee and PawPaw, so he doesn’t understand why his home life is still upsetting Lance.  They grew up differently.  It’s as simple as that.

      “Well, anyways, I just didn't want him to be alone.  That's why I bothered him.  He’s hurt and I was worried and...  It's better than nothing, right?  But I guess that wasn't good either.”  Lance’s head hangs in a way that Keith hasn’t seen since his grandmother passed and his grandfather fell into a depressed state…

      “Lance,” Keith says quietly, “some people like being alone.  It’s not a bad thing to prefer the quiet that being alone gives you..  If you’re really worried about this, then just give him space.  He’ll come around if you haven’t messed up too bad.”

      “But what if I have?  What if I have and Keith hates me forever?” Lance asks.  Keith can see Lance’s lip tremble as the taller boy moves to sit down beside the merman.  His tail is laying behind where Lance has sat himself and Keith hates to admit that feeling Lance’s jacket brush against his scales isn’t such a bad feeling even with the pain of drying out.

      “You’re overreacting,” he assures as he walks himself closer to Lance on his hands.  Keith is almost touching Lance, wanting to help his friend feel better but completely lost on just how to do that.  Having a friend is still very new to him, after all.  “Just because something you did upset him doesn’t mean he’ll hate you forever.”

      “How would you know that?  You didn’t hear how I yelled at him,” Lance mutters, setting the food in his hands aside with the forks and spoons.  Keith watches as Lance resumes his pouting position with his knees pulled to his chest and his arms folded to nestle his chin in.

      “Call it intuition,” Keith says.  He picks up the tupperware and opens it.  He smiles a little at the meal and picks up a fork.  “So, who did you say made this?”  

      “Momma…  It’s fresh, just in case you were wondering,” Lance mutters, looking at the food and sighing at the familiar smell.  Keith sees Lance’s lips just barely turn up in a smile.  “I don't really know what mermaids eat, but I hope you like it.”

      “Your mom must be a good cook,” Keith says, helping himself to a bite.  He frowns when his sharp canines graze his lip as he chews the surprisingly good food.  He’d almost forgotten about his own problems with how worried he is for Lance.  “You should head back home, Lance.  You’ll get sick from those wet clothes with the sun setting.”

      “I don't care.” Lance doesn’t even look at Keith, his eyes just staring out at the water.

      “You should.  What if he comes by to talk with you and you’re sick?” Keith goads, trying to get some sort of rise out of Lance.  He doesn’t like this kind of Lance.  He’s _too_ quiet and _too_ resigned.  Not only that, but Keith is positive his tail is losing some of its scales already.

“He won't come back to talk with me, Mullet Head, are you crazy?  I guess he likes being alone... I think Momma is gonna make me try to check on him again but after what happened I guess I’ll just leave him alone.” Lance shrugs, hurt in his eyes and sadness in his body language making Keith feel like an idiot for fighting with him over some food.

      “Call it intuition,” Keith states again, wanting to get rid of that hurt and sadness for Lance.  He hadn’t realized that Lance _actually_ cared.  It’s almost foreign to Keith to have anyone worrying about him.  The fact that Lance, a near stranger, was already so attached to him…  The closeness is unnerving for Keith.  He’d barely had any _real_ attachments with MeeMee and PawPaw after they took him in, so losing them hadn’t stung as much as it should have, but still..  “I have a feeling that he’s going to try to make it right.”

“You think so?” Lance asks, his voice not really perking up but more like feigning interest. “I hope you’re right, dude.” He finally looks at Keith’s yellow eyes for the first time in what felt like hours, but couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes.  

      “Just watch,” he promises.  Something in him feels warm having Lance’s eyes looking at him again.  Although, the sun is setting, so it’s likely just that leftover warmth.  Definiely.  “Keith will try to apologize.  You just need to listen for it.”

      “I’ll listen, Mullet Head, but he’d better not be whispering,” Lance tries to joke, a weak smile playing on his lips again.  Keith wonders if he's going to be able to fix this.

* * *

      He somehow managed to convince Lance to leave before the merman dried out completely.  The home made meal was surprisingly good and Keith wonders if the rest of the food he’d been given is just as good.  As he waits through the discomfort of his scales turning to skin, he thinks through the plan he’d come up with.

      Lance would already be home and settled in for the evening by the time Keith’s body changed back, so at least he’s certain where Lance will be.  The problem arises in Keith’s explanation for going to visit Lance at this time of night or any time, really.  Keith gives a sigh as he pulls his legs close to his chest while he waits to be certain he’s back to normal.  He’s only in his underwear, which is embarrassing enough but he can’t imagine seeing Lance - or anyone, he has to make himself add - with any possibility of his secret being noticed.  Once he’s certain his body is completely human, Keith gets to his feet and goes to where he’d hidden his clothes.  He winces as he pulls his jeans back on, feeling it pull at the scabs on his legs, and quickly buttons them before grabbing his shirt and jacket.

      As he finishes dressing, Keith’s mind wanders back to the explanation he’s going to give Lance for showing up uninvited.  Well, not uninvited.  Lance’s mom had written those directions to their home.  That’s an invitation, right?  He frowns and pulls his socks and shoes on.  Lance would need to hear it from Keith himself that there’s no bad blood.  Maybe… Maybe things could be better between them.  If Keith just let Lance try to help... 

      It’s a horrible idea, Keith is certain of it.  Lance could just laugh in his face, or scold him, or... 

      He’s already on his way out of the woods and towards Lance’s home before he realizes it.  Keith’s heart picks up a little, fear at being rejected just making him even more nervous.  Thinking on his feeling fear, Keith wonders why he’s actually caring about this one guy feeling upset about him not wanting help.  It doesn’t really make sense to Keith that Lance is so worried about him, so persistent in his want to care for Keith, so…  Concerned.  Keith gives an annoyed sigh, looking up from the road to see a house next to a large barn with different farm vehicles in various amounts of repair and replacement.  He briefly wonders if Lance has operated them before, if he’d done so shirtless -

      Shaking his head at his straying thoughts, Keith heads up to the front door, giving himself a moment to calm down on the front porch before he knocks on the door.  There’s some yelling on the other side of the door, some lights coming on in the front of the house near the door, and Keith is positive he hears Lance’s muffled voice shouting back at someone in the house just before the door opens.  Keith wonders what he looks like to Lance with his hair still knotted from the water.  Keith just hopes his face isn’t as expressive as it feels right now.

      What Lance says kinda shocks Keith, though.


	14. Meeting Momma

      Seeing Keith of all people at his front door really does shock Lance.  He hadn’t expected Mullet Head to be right so soon, or at all.  Before he’s even had a complete thought, Lance hears himself ask Keith, “The merman was right.”

      The look on the other guy’s face is unreadable.  Is Keith having second thoughts about being here?  Lance tries to get his own mouth to smile but he can’t change it from the surprise he feels.  Keith is actually here on his doorstep after Lance had yelled at him.  It’s honestly shocking.  Even more shocking is the state of Keith’s awful mullet.  It looks tangled and messy.  Had something happened?  Maybe he went swimming at the cliffs after Lance left Mullet Head...

      “I, um,” Keith starts to say but he doesn’t seem all that aware right now.

      Lance takes pity on his friend and steps aside so Keith can come in.  “It’s kinda late for you to walk all the way back to your place, dude.  Why not you come in?  Momma just finished putting all the leftovers away, but we can find you something if you’re hungry.”

      Tonight must be a night of miracles because Keith somehow willingly walks through Lance’s front door and into the cozy, warm home that he’d grown up in.  He looks at Keith as the shorter guy walks around the front hall before taking a right into the comfortable living room covered in family photos and fluffy pillows and comfortable furniture - a liveable place that really is nothing like what Lance had seen at Keith’s house.  Lance knows his mother can see them from in the kitchen that’s attached to the living room. 

      “You feeling alright there, Keith?” Lance asks when Keith starts looking at the family photos on nearly every surface.  He wonders what’s so interesting about them.  It’s just photos of him, his older brother, his younger sister, their parents and grandparents, and some recent ones of his niece and nephew.      

      “Yeah.”  Keith’s voice is soft and Lance frowns at how unusual it is.  Keith is usually monotone or flat or just overall neutral sounding anytime they talk.  Is Keith okay?

      “Look, dude, if you’re not okay, then you can stay here tonight,” Lance offers, his hand reaching out to touch Keith’s shoulder since his friend still isn’t looking at him.  When he has Keith’s eyes on him again, Lance realizes that something has to be wrong.  Keith  _ never _ looks like this.  He looks sad and worried and..  Just seeing Keith going through whatever’s wrong, Lance’s bandaged heart hurts.  “Seriously.  Momma’s always got the guest room ready.  You shouldn’t head home with it being this late, dude.  Not like this.”

      Keith looks like he seriously considers it before looking back at the photos. “I don’t want to impose,” he starts to say before Lance’s mother comes into the room while wiping her hands on her apron.

      “This one is “Keith”?  Lance, have you even offered him something to drink?”  His momma fixes Lance with a look that leaves his cheeks burning and his hand falling off his friend’s shoulder.  He can already hear the talk she’s going to give him.  Lance had been complaining about Keith but he didn’t exactly let on that Keith was the guy with the mullet that’d gotten him out of the cliffside beach.

      “Momma, I was getting there,” he whines, pouting for her to see and smile at before he looks back to his friend.  “We picked up some soda cans in town yesterday, want any?”

      “Uh, no,” Keith says, the smile on his face looking wrong to Lance.  He doesn’t comment, going to the kitchen at another look from his mother.  While he gets a couple cans of soda, Lance can hear his mother and Keith talking quietly in the other room.  When he comes back out, he’s not that surprised to see his mother has made Keith sit down on the worn down couch and is chatting with him about staying over the night.  Lance can see the other guy is being worn down and close to just giving in to the crazy woman’s demands.

      “You can’t go wandering around at night, look what happened to Lance there,”  the traitorous woman says with a gesture to her son.  “He cracked his head on that beach he’s not supposed to go near!  He’s so lucky that you were there to help him last night.  Just look at him.  He came home a while ago and I had to change those bandages.  They were soaked all the way through.”

      “Momma,” Lance groans, bringing the soda over to Keith before sitting between his mother and friend.  Might as well save Keith from the embarrassment of whatever his mother is saying.  “Keith doesn’t need to hear about that.  You know I went out to go talk with Mullet Head, momma.”

      “Ah, yes.  That mermaid -”

      “Merman, momma!”

      “- merman that you’ve been fawning over and trying to get yourself killed in those bad waters,” she scolds and hits Lance’s leg.

      “I have not been fawning over Mullet Head,” Lance argues, noticing that Keith looks a little uncomfortable at the conversation.  Lance doesn’t want his friend to be uncomfortable in Lance’s home - he kinda wants Keith to come back sometime...  “Momma, why not let me have some free time tomorrow morning so I can walk Keith home?”

      “You’ve your chores, Lance,” she scolds.  “If I give you a morning off then your sister will demand the same when she’s back from camp.”

      “I can just head home now, I didn’t mean to intrude,” Keith says, leaning forward to look around Lance.

      “No,” mother and son state together.

      “Keith, you’re kidding, right?  Dude, just stay the night.  It’ll be better than walking all the way back to your place.”  Lance is looking directly at his friend and he can feel his mother leaning around Lance to give him the same scolding look she gives all her children.  “I’m sure we can find you pajamas to borrow.  Plus, this way you’ll get even more of my mom’s cooking!”

      “I really can’t accept,” Keith tries to argue before Lance’s mother cuts him off.  
“Of _course_ you can accept!  Lance, put that soda down and show your friend to the guest room.  I’m sure you’ve some pajamas he can borrow, too.”  She gives her son a stern look when Lance even looks like he’ll complain about putting his fresh soda aside.

      “Uh, maybe,” Lance actually says as he grabs a coaster to put his soda on, fearing an argument with his mother right now.  He stands up and heads for the hall while his mom berates Keith to join him.  Lance can’t help but smile when he looks back to see Keith following him out of the living room.  He chooses not to notice his mother’s too smug smile at the two of them walking out of the room together.

      Keith doesn’t seem to be in the mood to keep his eyes up as Lance leads them up the creaky stairs to the guest and kids’ rooms.  Lance glances back at his friend a few times, concerned for Keith after seeing the state of his legs this morning.  His friend is quiet, like usual, but Lance doesn’t feel comfortable with Keith’s silence.  He’s almost certain that something’s wrong but he can’t figure out what it could be.  Maybe Keith’s legs did get infected?  He could have a fever or be in a lot of pain or maybe he’s not feeling well and wanted to find someone he could trust to take care of him - yeah, Lance knows that’s a little wishful.

      “Here it is,” Lance says and opens the guest door for Keith.  The room is small but it’s well furnished, unlike what Lance had seen at Keith’s house.  Keith seems a little out of it so Lance offers him a smile and walks into the room so his friend will, too.  “I’ll go get some pajamas so just stay here.  You can take a shower down the hall, too, if you want,” Lance says, watching Keith look around the room.

      “Yeah, thanks,” Keith finally says.  It’s almost as though Keith  _ just _ saw him again.  Maybe Keith does have a fever from his legs?  Lance briefly touches Keith’s shoulder before leaving his friend alone in the room while he goes to get a pair of pajamas for Keith to borrow.  He comes back to Keith’s guest room, not bothering to knock since he’d only been gone a moment.

      Lance definitely should’ve knocked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I love hearing from everyone, even those of you who keep being way too accurate so I can't say anything. Feel free to come message me at klance-and-a-half on Tumblr or just see the headcanons and thoughts I've been working to post.


	15. Fever Or Blush?

      Keith has no idea what’s wrong with himself when Lance leaves him alone in the room.  He feels hot but he knows the room is cool; his head is hurting and his legs are aching and he isn’t sure why his heart is pounding so quickly.  Stepping closer to the bed, Keith pulls his jacket off, hoping that this would solve some of his discomfort.  He sets the jacket on the bed and frowns when he realizes taking the jacket off didn’t fix his feeling warm.  He doesn’t hear the door open behind him while he’s taking his shirt off, his focus divided by his worry about what he’ll say to Lance, his staying over tonight, and his problems at his empty home.  He _does_ hear when Lance makes a weird noise behind him, though.  Keith glances at his friend over his shoulder and raises a brow.  “You know staring is considered rude, right?” he asks, feeling just as out of it as Lance looks.

      Lance’s eyes are wide and his mouth is agape.  “Uh, I w-wasn't staring,” he stutters unconvincingly.  Keith wonders just what Lance is thinking.

      “You're staring,” Keith states, turning fully to look at the - is Lance blushing?  Lance is seriously blushing.  His brow furrows and Keith folds his arms in frontof his chest.  “Something wrong?”

      “No, of course not!” Lance purses his lips and finally looks away from Keith’s body.  Does he think Keith is an idiot?

      “Right..  I’m going to have to take you up on that shower,” Keith says, noticing that Lance is completely avoiding his gaze now.  “Where’s the bathroom?”

      “It’s, uh..  Down the hall.  Two doors on the left,” Lance says, his eyes anywhere except Keith.  Somehow that irritates Keith more than the staring possibly could.  Maybe he _is_  getting sick…

      “Right, thanks,” he says before starting for the door.  Lance steps in front of him, though which surprises Keith.  He frowns at the taller boy.  “What?”

      “Your pajamas,” Lance lamely answers, his gaze still averted from Keith’s face as his arm holds out a bundle of clothes covered in tiny red lions.

      “Right,” he mumbles, taking the clothes Lance is holding out for him.  This is seriously embarrassing for Keith to be needing to borrow clothes but it’s not like he planned on staying over.

      As Keith heads down the hall, he knows Lance is following.  He can hear Lance in the hall behind him.  The moment Keith puts his hand on the bathroom door, Lance stops him.   _Again_.

      “Dude, are you sure you’re feeling okay?  You look flushed,” Lance comments, worried for his friend.  A steaming hot shower isn’t good for someone who’s sick, Keith knows this.  But he’s not sick.  He’s just exhausted himself between work, his new secret, the panics he’s had saving Lance’s life or hurting Lance…  Maybe he let his legs get red and irritated, but he’s not sick.

      “I’m fine, Lance.  What?  Are you going to insist on joining me in the bathroom?” he asks, frowning as he looks at Lance’s face again.  The concern he sees there tells Keith just how bad he must look..  Or maybe that just Lance not understanding the joke?

      Lance doesn't seem to take the hint.  “If you need me to, I can help you out,” Lance offers but then pauses, seemingly realizing what he just said. “I-I mean- ah…” He's at a loss for words, taking a step back from the bathroom and rubbing his neck awkwardly, his cheeks growing darker even as Keith watches..  Lance says nothing more and Keith just stares for a moment.  He’d never guess that would come out of Lance’s mouth.

      Keith finally feels merciful and gives a sigh before turning back to the bathroom.  “If you have any rubbing alcohol or peroxide, then I should be fine,” he says without meeting Lance’s eyes.   “My legs aren’t feeling their best but I can do without if you don’t have either.”

      “I thought so.” Lance nods, holding up his hands to signal Keith to wait a moment.  Even Keith is surprised when he actually stays put and waits for Lance to come back.  It only takes Lance a few moments and quick shouts between him and his mother before he came back with all the supplies in his arms. “Okay I got neosporin, band aids, peroxide, tweezers, and some cotton swabs.” He lists all the items, looking at Keith confidently.

      “Thanks,” Keith says quietly.  He’s confused, though.  He’d only asked for the peroxide, so he’s surprised that Lance brought back so much.  “I..  Um, I can take care of it myself with just the peroxide.”  He can’t really imagine having Lance help clean up his legs, not with how far the scrapes run up them.  Hell, in his other form the injuries run up nearly to where his scales end on his tail.  He’d barely given it any mind to try to compare the injuries between forms.  But if Lance had noticed at all…

      “It’s okay, I know how to dress wounds, I've got a big brother and a kid sister so you can imagine the trouble they get into.”  Lance chuckles for a moment in memory and then comes back with a bright smile for his friend.  Keith just gives him a confused but accepting look before walking into the bathroom completely.

      Keith keeps his back turned to Lance as Keith starts to undo his pants, embarrassed that he’s undressing in front of someone else for the first time since high school.  Lance must think this is normal or something because the cocky moron waits until Keith sits himself on the closed toilet in just his underwear before Lance comes over, squatting to check out Keith’s legs with a concerned look taking over what had been a smile.  “Geez, dude, what happened?  It’s like you got dragged across some pavement or something..”

      “Something like that,” Keith says, staying vague on purpose.  He cringes when Lance touches his leg and helps him stretch out only to start looking at the irritated scabs.  “..shouldn’t this be done after I shower?”  Keith tries to keep his voice from having his discomfort show in it, but he’s not sure if he manages.

      The look on Lance’s face tells him that he failed miserably.

      “Yeah, you’re right,” Lance agrees, setting the medical supplies on the sink counter by the toilet.  He stands back up and takes care of starting the shower while Keith watches.

      Keith feels even more uncomfortable as he waits for Lance to finish fiddling with the water, grabbing a towel from under the sink, and even getting Keith’s stained pants off the ground. Keith is almost certain he can feel himself blushing.  He doesn’t know _why_ he’d be blushing, though.  Him blushing can’t possibly be because he’s nearly undressed in front of someone as kind and nice and concerned and cute - uh…

      Keith’s thoughts are interrupted when Lance suddenly has a hand on his shoulder and is leaning in way too close to touch foreheads together.

      “What the hell are you doing?” Keith snaps, pushing Lance away the moment he realizes what’s happening.

      “Checking for a fever,” Lance says, his face completely innocent as he blinks back at Keith.  “It’s easier to check with foreheads since our thermometer’s busted.  Momma showed me how to check when my niece and nephew got sick last summer.  I’ve been on nursing duty since then whenever they’re sick here.”

      “I don’t have a fever,” Keith argues, not wanting to look Lance in the eyes.  He drops his hands from Lance’s shoulders where he’d pushed the taller boy away out of embarrassment.

      “According to your forehead, you do.”

      “You’re basing this off of my forehead?”

      “Easiest way.  Unless you want me to go boil the old thermometer.  Our good one got busted when the kids were by last week.”

      Keith just glares at the space near Lance’s head but he doesn’t argue further.  It’s better for Lance to assume he’s feverish and not asking why his face is so warm.  “Fine.  So what if I’ve got a fever.”

      “Dude, you’re joking, right?” Lance asks.  Keith can see the concern on the stupid guy’s stupid face.

      “I’m not sick.  I doubt the fever will last that long,” Keith states and starts to get to his feet.  He hadn’t really noticed how steamy the room got so quickly.

      “Keith, maybe you should take a bath instead?” Lance puts a hand to Keith’s shoulder again, the concerned look leaving Keith defenseless.

      With a huff, he moves to lean against the counter - still only wearing his underwear that he hopes Lance isn’t paying any mind because that would be _way_ too much for just friends - and says, “Fine, a bath.  But I can handle taking care of myself, Lance.”

      The smirk on Lance’s stupid face makes Keith’s blood boil when the idiot says in way too smug a tone, “Sure, mullet.”


	16. Loose Pajamas

      Waiting outside the bathroom for Keith to open the door seemed like the longest twenty minutes in Lance’s life.  And he’s including when Mullet Head didn’t show up.  When Keith opens the door, Lance offers a smile to his friend, doing his best not to notice that Keith is wearing the red lion pajama top Lance grew out of last year.  Lance definitely doesn’t notice that they’re hanging off of Keith enough to cover most of his underwear.  What he does notice is the poor shape of Keith’s legs still.

    He helps guide Keith to sit back down on the closed toilet and chats away in a one-sided conversation that wanders back to his niece and nephew even as Lance helps boil out the worse cuts with the cotton balls and peroxide.  Lance isn’t sure how many of Keith’s injuries might be infected, but it’s enough that he’s worried for Keith’s health.  No wonder he has a fever - a fever that’s making all of Keith’s face red, at that.  After he boils out the worst of the wounds, he covers their rims and surrounding skin with ointment before bandaging them up.

    At the end of the whole ordeal, Keith looks drained as he watches Lance stand and wash his hands in the sink beside the toilet.  Lance dries his hands and looks at the loose pajama bottoms he’s lending Keith.

    “Are you going to need help getting into your pajamas, dude?” Lance asks, already feeling his cheeks burn just a bit.  He can’t believe he’s actually been able to help the quiet, annoying, poor fashion sense disaster of a friend this much after the blow up they’d had.  “Cause, dude, I don’t mind helping if it means you won’t fall on your face.”

    Lance really starts to worry when Keith agrees to the help.  He gives an encouraging smile as he sets the loose pajama bottoms on the ground and lets Keith step into them before stooping over to pick them up off the ground, Lance’s hands hovering around his middle to make sure his friend doesn’t fall over.  Once Keith is dressed, Lance claps him on the back and gives him a reassuring smile before starting to lead Keith out of the hot bathroom and back to the much cooler guest bedroom past Lance’s room.

    He doesn’t notice any shivering as they step out of the warm bathroom together, but Lance keeps an eye on his friend.  He’s positive that Keith was too warm to be considered well - at least Keith’s face was.  And some of those cuts look like they might be infected…  He leads the way back to Keith’s borrowed room and opens the door for this friend.  He’s positive that Keith has a fever but other than a warm forehead, he can’t find any other evidence that Keith is sick.

    Once he actually sees Keith lay down under the covers, Lance hesitates before turning the light off and leaving the room.  He’s gone for a few moments, explaining what he saw to his mother before heading back up with some fever medicine and a glass of water.  He knocks before coming in this time and even offers Keith a smile when the sick guy sits up and looks at him with bleary eyes.  Keith must’ve been falling asleep.

    “Got you some medicine to help with that fever there,” Lance says as he moves to sit by Keith’s side.  He gets out two small tablets from the bottle and offers them to Keith in his palm.  Keith sort of..stares?  Maybe he’d really been sleeping that soundly.  “Keith?”

    “Sorry,” Keith mumbles before taking the medicine from Lance’s hand and downing it.  Lance isn’t any less worried, though.  Keith actually takes the offered water, draining it pretty quickly before Lance takes back the empty glass.

    “Well, I guess you’re not that sick if you’re able to take medicine without a problem,” Lance tries to joke.  His joke only earns a glare from Keith, though, and he sighs in defeat to the other boy’s glare.  “Dude, you’ve got a fever.  Your face is radiating heat.  You’re sick.”

    “No, I’m really not,” Keith argues.  Lance puts a hand on the idiot’s shoulder when Keith tries to sit up, keeping his friend laying down.

    “Keith, buddy, chill.  Fine, you’re not sick..  But at least lay here and get some rest, alright?” he practically begs the stubborn idiot.

    Thankfully Keith gives a put upon sigh before rolling over to face away from Lance.  Looking at the tangled mess of hair, Lance smiles at the thought of helping Keith untangle the mess.  Maybe tomorrow…  He hears Keith’s breathing even out pretty soon, the soft noise reassuring Lance at this hour that Keith is fast asleep in a safe, warm, loving home.


	17. The Morning Isn't Peaceful

      A smell of bacon surprises Keith when he starts to wake up.  He can’t remember the last time he smelled bacon being cooked while he is still in bed.  He also can’t remember when his sheets felt this clean, or when his pajamas felt this loose, or when his bed felt this warm.  He rolls over slowly, giving a long breath as his back pops from how still he’d slept.  He gives a quiet groan as he settles back into the warmth he’s turned into.  Keith almost falls back asleep.

      He quickly wakes up when the warmth beside him _moves_.  Sitting upright, Keith looks and sees Lance’s stupid face sleeping peacefully in the same bed as him!  “Lance, what are you doing in here?” he demands, kicking at Lance’s legs with his own to wake the sleeping beauty.

      Keith is more than annoyed when the only response received is a mumbled phrase that makes absolutely no sense.   “..you looked so lonely,” are the words that tumble from Lance’s lips where his face is smooshed into the soft foam pillows the bed was decorated with.

      “You’re unbelievable!” Keith all but shouts, moving to get out of the bed with his cheeks burning and his mind racing.  How could Lance believe this is okay?  Why would Lance sleep in the bed that Keith was borrowing?  When his feet touch the ground, Keith can feel them burn in pain when he starts putting his weight on them.

      "Keith,” Lance’s annoying voice whines at Keith.  “S’fine…  C’mon back.”

      Keith adamantly denies returning to Lance’s side in the bed, more than ready to argue with Lance about _sleeping with his friend_.  He moves away from the bed, repeating the word, “no,” in every way he can think of as he leaves the room in his borrowed pajamas that hang from him.  His little mantra doesn’t even stop as he head down the stairs until he halts at the bottom step.

      He realizes almost too late that: 1) he is wearing pajamas, 2) the pajamas are not his own, 3) the pajamas are _Lance’s_ , 4) he has no idea where Lance put Keith’s clothes, 5) his only options are to leave now with lion pajamas on or to face Lance’s mother like this.

      He really does consider stealing the pajamas and skipping town.

      But he decides against that idea and soon finds himself in a large but very homey kitchen.  Lance’s mother is bustling about the room, finishing up a large breakfast and setting up the meal along a small table off to the side of the kitchen.  She doesn’t seem to notice him, a steady noise of humming and singing unnoticably changing over to chatter directed to him while he’s busy taking in just how much food had been made.

      “...and I’m sure you’ve both got to be hungry.  Who wouldn’t be?  You’re both growing boys and here you are needing to be healed up after that accident you had,” she goes on as she moves some waffles from an iron to a large platter that will be joining a mess of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage - all of which are better quality than what Keith buys for himself).  She gives him a look that he can’t quite place before rambling on about something else.  Keith tries to catch up, something about him needing to brush his hair more if he’s going to be so active, but he stops trying when he hears someone slowly walking to his side.  He turns to look before seeing an older version of Lance coming towards him - Lance’s dad - looking as bleary eyed as his son did when Keith left him alone.

      Lance’s mother turns her attention to start scolding her husband for his appearance in front of a guest, snapping his attention to an embarrassed Keith as he tries to die on the spot.  He hears a bit of back and forth between Lance’s parents, his name and Lance’s thrown in at different parts, but they’re going too fast for him to really follow this early in the morning.  Is this what Lance came from?  No wonder the guy loves the sound of his own voice so much..

      He comes back to reality when Lance’s mom comes closer with what looks like a knowing smile on her face.  She chatters on about Keith being a welcome part of the family if he wants to be, that there’s always room for one more at her table, that she’s more than happy to have another son at her table all the while Lance’s father just piles on some food to three plates before setting them in front of three chairs.  Keith finds himself being guided from where he’s standing over to the middle of the three prepared places at the table.  Before he really knows what happened, he’s sitting at the small, circular table with Lance’s parents pressed on either side of him.

      His whole face feels very hot and he just knows he’s showing how uncomfortable he is.  Keith picks up his fork and waits to see if Lance’s parents are going to do anything aside from chatter on about something he’s completely missed the subject of.  Something about work for the day?  Oh!  There’s Lance’s name.

      “...He still needs to do his chores,” Lance’s dad argues with his wife.  “If I don’t have _any_ help around here, then there won’t be any income in the market.”

      “Yes, I understand that, but you heard the doctor.  Until his head is better, we need to keep him indoors as much as possible,” she argues right back over Keith.

      The trapped boy notices that they’re both eating, at least, so he helps himself to his plate of home cooked food while listening to them.  He hasn’t heard a couple bicker like this in a long time.

      “Yes, yes, but what about the work?  There’s a storm coming in this weekend, Maria, and I can’t have anything left out in the open with the sea water that’ll come with it.”

      “Have you thought about hiring some local boys then?  I’m sure Hunk would be more than willing to help after his work at the local shelter,” Maria points out.  Keith glances at Lance’s mother.  So Hunk works at the animal shelter?  No wonder he didn’t recognize the guy.  That’s right across their town from Keith’s usual area of travel.

      “I’ve considered it, you know that, but Hunk is too large to work with the equipment I have,” he reminds.  Keith wonders if Lance’s father means the equipment that’s scattered around the lawn.  It’s old, yeah, and probably very temperamental, but Keith is sure that it’s not that hard to fix the machines enough to move them around before the storm this weekend.

      "Then why not ask some other local boys?”

      “The other locals either have no idea how to fix their own father’s machines or they’re spoiled to the point they don’t know the difference between a gasket and a washer.”

      “That may be, but if all you need is a bit of knowledge and a smaller hand, wouldn’t anyone be more help than no one?”

      And on they go as Keith continues to eat.  He considers offering his help to return the favor of helping him last night.  On the one hand, it would be a job that they might offer him to keep until he finds a more permanent position in town.  On the other hand, he’d be this close to _Lance_ too frequently.  What if the idiot notices something?  Or what if he recognizes Keith’s jacket?

      “What about you, Keith?” Lance’s father asks after a quiet moment.

      Keith looks up at him, seeing just how much Lance looks like his dad even with the facial hair.  “What about me?” he asks.

      “Do you think you could help out around here?  Lance mentioned you’re looking for a new job and I could use the help around the land,” Lance’s father says.

      “He did?” Keith asks.  He should’ve expected that much.  Lance had come to Mullet Head to talk about everything already.  Why did he expect Lance to stay quiet to his family?  “I do need a new job,” he admits, “but if you need help, then I guess I can help.”

      “Great!  We’ll get you started as soon as you’re ready,” Lance’s father promises as they eat the food already on the table.  There’s a comfortable hum of conversation over Keith’s head as Lance’s parents go on about the different chores to be finished today.  Keith manages to catch some of it, but he tries to keep his head low as he eats, not wanting to draw the adults’ attention.  Being so close to them while at the table feels… strange.  It’s comforting, almost.

      The comforting feeling flees the moment he sees Lance plop down in the chair opposite his own.  Uncombed hair and crumpled pajama shirt, Lance doesn’t even seem to glance at him when Lance sits down at the empty place at the table.  Keith won’t admit that it annoys him to be ignored by Lance after everything.  To his side, Lance’s mother starts saying something solely to Lance, drawing the boy’s eyes off his food of choice and to her face.

      Lance’s father just chuckles when he sees the realization on Lance’s face that they have a guest - Keith.  Keith watches with what he hopes is a bored expression as Lance gets flustered and starts arguing with his mother about how Keith isn’t _that_ special of a guest, that it should be fine that he’s not already in day clothes, and that it is in fact perfectly acceptable to look this way early in the day.  Until the wicked woman smiles.

      “And what about sharing a bed with your guest?” she asks.

      Keith is shocked to see Lance go speechless.  He meets Lance’s gaze for a brief instant and realizes that Lance’s face has a red color to it.

      “Mama,” Lance gripes and stabs at some of his food.

      “No, do not “Mama” me, Lance.  You got caught.  If you and Keith are together-” Keith covers his mouth as he chokes on his bit of food “-then you could have come to us.”

      This whole family is officially trying to kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6,000 notes! Thank you to all the people leaving comments. You have no idea how much I love hearing from you. I have to admit that I've gotten behind on writing for this story in the past few weeks with my classes getting so busy, so thank you for sticking with me. I hope to at least finish the writing of this story before the end of the year, but the posting may continue well past.
> 
> *side note*  
> I'm looking to start writing an Avatar: The Last Airbender au for this fandom for after I finish this fiction. If anyone has interest, please feel free to contact me about it.


	18. After Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many apologies to everyone for this late update. Some stuff has happened in real life for me and I didn't want to just shove this off into the unknown without some satisfaction for the chapter. This isn't at the top form that I wanted, but breakfast is never the best part of the day. ;)
> 
> I promise that Mullet Head will come back in a few chapters, but these two need to talk first, right?

     Lance is positive that Mama is trying to kill him.  She has to be.  What else would she be trying to accomplish if she’s throwing him under the bus like this!

     Looking at his father gives him no help as he drowns in embarrassment.  The older man is very obviously keeping his focus on the plate before him.  Lance is very close to exploding as he feels his mother’s knowing smile peel away all of his confidence.

     “I-I-” he stutters out, looking everywhere except his mother and friend.  How can she be putting her favorite son through this?  It’s torturous!

     “We aren’t together.”

     That’s the first Lance has heard Keith speak all morning.  Sure, he heard a stream of something when he was dozing in bed earlier, but he doesn’t really count that as talking.  At least not when it’s the same word over and over again.

     “You aren’t?” Mama asks, looking between the two teens.  “That still doesn’t change the house rules, Lance.  Guests sleep in the guest room.  It’s the same rule for your sisters.  Your older sister is married now and she’s even gotten plans to give her children the same rules.”

     “Mama,” he tries to protest at the scolding.  Lance even looks at his father for assistance under his mother’s stern gaze.

     “Your mother is right,” his father simply states, leaving Lance no choice but to groan and bury his head in his hands.  He can’t even look at them right now.  What would Keith think?

     Lance doesn’t even want to _think_ about what Keith will say.  Is he going to be smug?  Is he going to hate Lance?  Is he going to leave and never return and tell everyone in town what a loser Lance is and that his pajamas are still kiddie even when he’s going to college in a few weeks-

     “I think he was just worried I had a fever last night,” comes Keith’s voice through Lance’s swirling despair.

     He didn’t just hear that.  Lance is _positive_ that he did not just hear Keith defend him.  Looking up from the safe cradle of his hands, though, Lance sees that Keith is looking at Mama and is actually still talking about something.  Maybe he’s hearing wrong but it sounds like he’s defending Lance’s actions last night.

     “I understand, Keith, but rules are rules.  And if you’re going to be working around the land with Papa, then you’ll need to follow the rules as well,” she warns as she picks up the finished plates.

     Papa, the quiet man that he is, just offers a shrug and a smile to his son before getting up and going to help his wife clean from breakfast.

     Their being at the sink leaves Lance alone with his friend in an awkward silence that seems to just stretch on and on.

     “Thanks,” Lance eventually manages to have stumble from his mouth.  He wants to say a lot more, but that’s all that comes out.

     “You were just trying to return the favor,” Keith says.  
     “What favor?”  Lance tries to think of something Keith had done that would equal Lance sleeping in Keith’s bed.  Absolutely nothing comes to mind, unless breaking into Keith’s home counts.

     “When I stayed at the hospital to make sure you got well,” Keith says with a shrug.

     “Oh, that?  I thought…  I mean, I really appreciate it, dude, but I didn’t really think of that as a favor,” Lance says, his cheeks feeling a little warm.  Was that appropriate?  Did he come off wrong?

     “Oh.”

     “Yeah…”

     The silence returns until Keith gets up with his half-eaten plate and starts to head for Mama.

     “Hey, you’ll want to finish that.  Mama will make a big fuss if you don’t eat more, especially with your legs still healing,” Lance calls between bites.  He offers Keith’s annoyed face a smile when the mullet head sits back down.  “Plus, you won’t have to help with the dishes if you take long enough.”

     “Is that why you’re so slow, then?” Keith bites back with something that looks like a grin.

     Lance really hopes that was a grin.  If it was, then maybe he’s finally getting somewhere with his new stubborn friend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New fanart:  
> Starshinesoldier (Tumblr)  
> 1 - http://starshinesoldier.tumblr.com/post/152169576714/fanart-voltronlegendarydefender-voltron-keith
> 
> 2 - http://starshinesoldier.tumblr.com/post/152169665404/fanart-voltronlegendarydefender-voltron-keith
> 
> 3 - http://starshinesoldier.tumblr.com/post/152317180214/fanart-voltronlegendarydefender-voltron-keith
> 
> *Note from Lee:  
> Love all three! If anyone feels like doing more art for this fic, please feel free! :)


	19. Quarrel

     Keith’s day only gets stranger when Lance’s father takes him aside and leads him around the farm.  It’s not that big of a place, but Keith can feel the blood on his legs starting to get on the pants he’s wearing.  Finally, they head back to the house and Keith excuses himself to go up to the bathroom by the guest room.  Maybe he can get his legs cleaned up before anyone notices.

     No such luck, apparently.

     “Keith?”  Lance’s voice is only more irritating through the bathroom door while Keith is fighting in his shirt and briefs to clean the scratches on his legs.  They’re not as irritated as yesterday, but they’re bleeding from walking around the land.

     “Yeah?” he calls back through the door as he dabs another cotton ball in the rubbing alcohol.

     “Dad said your pants looked like they had dark spots on them…  Are you okay?”

     Keith can hear Lance’s actual question: “Are your legs bleeding again?”  He doesn’t like that Lance has every right to be concerned, but he doesn’t want to rely on some guy for _everything_.  Lance already knows about Mullet Head.  Lance knows about Keith’s home life and his lost income.  What else does Lance want from him?

     “Yeah, I’m fine.  What, are you worried?” he tries to tease since it’s easier than being serious right now.

     There’s a pause before Keith hears an answer.  “Yeah, actually.”

     What?

     “What?” Keith asks, looking up from his legs at the shower curtains and trying to understand just what Lance said.

     “I mean…  Dude, you’re bleeding again, right?”  Keith glares at the very accusing shower curtains.  “Keith, you’ve gotta take it easy or you’re going to get scars.  Whoever your lucky lady is later on is going to wonder about them.”

     Keith knows better than that last thing Lance said.  Of course Lance thinks that.  The guy must just think every guy is a lady’s man.  He can’t believe this.

     He must’ve been too quiet for too long because suddenly Lance is in the bathroom and looking at Keith’s bloody legs.  The idiot is blabbering on about something, but he can’t focus on Lance.  Keith takes his time to clean his legs while Lance babbles.  The bandages are easy enough before Keith stands and pulls his pants up.

     “Keith?” Lance asks when they’re at eye level.  Keith doesn’t look at him.  How could he think…  “Did I say something that made you mad?  Is this about the comment about your fashion?”

     “No, Lance, it isn’t,” he states and moves around Lance to put the used cotton balls in the little garbage bin beside the sink.  “I’m going home.”

     That must’ve shocked the other boy.  “What?”

     “You heard me.  I’m going home.”  Keith moves around Lance again but finds an arm barring his way to the door.  “Lance, move.”

     “You’re in no position to be leaving yet, Keith,” Lance argues with an annoying frown on his dumb face.  It only makes Keith want to hit the moron more.  “Dude, your legs are still bleeding.  You need time to rest and recuperate.”

     “I think I’ve done enough of that now, thanks,” Keith argues, folding his arms and looking up at Lance.

     “Dude, what’s up?  I made you mad, obviously, but you’re not helping any by trying to run away.”

     “I’m _not_ running away!”

     He’d shouted.  Keith hadn’t meant to shout but he sees the frown growing even more on Lance’s stupid face with his stupid brow furrowing and his stupid arms quivering and -

     “Just what are you trying to do, then?” Lance demands, pressing their foreheads together as he yells back at Keith.  “You are running away from my family every time we try to extend our hands to you!  I don’t know what I said that made you so mad, but your running away isn’t going to fix anything!”

     “What makes you think I’m running away?  You’re just assuming things!  That’s all you’ve been doing!  You _assume_ I want your help!  You _assume_ I care that you’re worried!  I don’t even know why you care!!”

     “Because we’re friends!”

     “ _Since when_?”  He growls out those two words.  He doesn’t get why he’s so angry.  He doesn’t think Lance actually cares.  This is all some charity to Lance.  Keith doesn’t want help.  He doesn’t want a girl.  He doesn’t want a noisy house or family or…  He just wants some peace.

     Taking the opportunity at Lance’s gaping face, Keith pushes past and squeezes his eyes as he heads to the stairs.  He finds his shoes downstairs - _Lance_ \- and his jacket.  Pulling his shoes on, he hears Lance coming down the steps after him.

     “Since you finally spoke to me,” is the answer.  Keith stops cold because…  What kind of answer is that?


	20. Jacket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In light of the U.S. election on 11.8., I am posting this to relieve myself of stress from fear and to try to give others an escape. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to message me at @klance-and-a-half on Tumblr. I want to help you. Feel free to message privately through messenger or do an anon submission or otherwise.

     “Since I spoke to you?”   
     Keith’s words are obviously a slap and they meet their mark.  Lance realizes that he should’ve been more careful with his words.

     “Well, it’s not like we talked back in school,” he tries to backpedal under Keith’s glare.  “You were always this guy that I couldn’t reach.  You were  _ Keith _ , dude.  And anytime I even got near you, you’d walk off somewhere.”

     The blank stare on Keith’s face shows that Keith has no idea what Lance is talking about.  The lack of recognition hurts him, too, but he puts up with it.  Lance takes a deep breath to tamp down his anger.  That won’t help keep Keith here and safe…

     “Look.  I’m sorry, Keith, whatever I said that made you mad, I didn’t mean it that way-”

     “‘ _ That way _ ?’”  The glare Keith levels on Lance just gets to him this time.

     “I am  _ trying _ to apologize here!  But I don’t even know what I said that made you blow a fuse, Keith!”   
     “You seem to think that I will just open myself up to you because that’s what you  _ want _ !”

     “Because that’s what friends do!”

     He doesn’t get a response.  He sees some weird expression on Keith’s face before suddenly his face isn’t in front of Lance anymore and neither is Keith.

     The door is shut.  Lance is alone by the front door.  He can hear Mama tutting down the hall at him.

* * *

 

     Stupid Lance.

     Stupid assumptions.

     Stupid family with stupid help and stupid care and concern and welcoming arms and smothering him.

     Keith is storming away from the happy home with faded blue shudders that Lance’s father had joked about letting Lance do that chore this weekend.  He feels something wet on his face and ignores it in favor of his perfectly reasonable exit from an unreasonable person.

     Just where does Lance get off at demanding Keith’s friendship?  What has Lance done to deserve Keith’s friendship in the first place?   _ Keith hadn’t asked to be friends with Lance. _

     Reaching the cliff comes too soon.

     Reaching the beach comes even sooner.

     Keith stares out at the silent shore as it’s irritated by the prodding tide.

     No wonder Lance thinks they’re friends.  Keith started it.

     He started this and now Lance thinks that…

     Keith finds a rock to sit on so that he isn’t on wet sand - no use getting scaly - and pulls his knees up to his chest while he does not cry.

* * *

 

     Listening to Mama go on and on about how sad Keith must be after their first fight becomes too much.  Lance needs out.  He tells his Mama that he’s going to go find Keith since the idiot forgot his jacket - a reasonable explanation.  The red jacket feels familiar in his hand as Lance heads to the beach.  He’d seen Keith here once, right?  Maybe this is where he went?

     As he walks, Lance remembers seeing Keith’s bright red jacket before.  He’d been with Mullet Head that first time.

     By the time he gets to the cliff’s edge, Lance is determined to ask Keith about his jacket.  Why was his jacket just laying there on the sand that day?  Has Keith seen Mullet Head?  Why the hell does he think he can just run away when Lance asks questions?

     He sees Keith’s stupid mullet first.  The other boy is sitting on a rock down near the water.  Lance knows from experience the danger of being so close to the water.  Tying the sleeves of the red jacket around his waist, Lance climbs down his usual path to the beach.  He sees that Keith hasn’t moved at all, so Lance continues his approach.

     Pulling the jacket off, he comes over to Keith’s side before sitting down and draping Keith’s jacket over his shoulders.  Lance sees his friend stiffen and it makes Lance sad for some reason.  Was he that unused to being cared for?  Or did Keith not hear him coming up?

     “You’re going to catch a cold out here.”

     “It’s summer,” Keith argues, his face hidden from Lance’s sight.

     “Yeah, and summer colds are even worse,” Lance laments.

     That gets a scoff, which is close enough to a laugh right now.  “That’s so stupid.”

     Grinning, Lance looks out at the sea.  It’s calm despite the tide.  He wonders if Mullet Head is out there today.  He hadn’t visited recently…  Is Mullet Head even here anymore?

     Feeling a body lean against him surprises Lance.   _ Hearing that body _ surprises him even more.

     “Thanks, Lance…  For being a friend.”

     Lance’s grin shifts to a soft smile.  He moves to wrap an arm around his friend’s shoulders.  Maybe Keith just needs some time to get used to all this.

     “That’s what friends do, Keith.”


	21. Chatting on Rocky Shores

     Keith can’t imagine how they got to this spot.  A week ago, he’d been living out of his house on his own and still human.  But now?  Now he’s leaning against Lance, a friend, and taking comfort in his presence on the same beach they met.

     Of course Lance ruins the moment, though.

     “So, what was it that upset you?  You still haven’t said.”

     Keith gives a sigh, disappointed that their bonding moment didn’t last.  He sits up on his own, putting a little distance between him and Lance once more.  Why couldn’t Lance just let this go?

     “A lot of things,” is the best answer Keith can give.  What else could he say?  “You assumed I am straight but I’m not and I feel uncomfortable with that assumption,” doesn’t exactly come off the tongue well.

     “Things like what?  Was it something I said?”

     Lance is leaning forward, his legs folded in front of him and his elbows resting on his knees as he looks at Keith.  Stupid Lance.

     “Lance, it isn’t that big a deal,” Keith starts to protest, putting his hand down beside him to move away.  He frowns at the sting of the water on the rock.  Scales must be forming already.  He picks his hand up and clenches it, just in case anything could be seen.

     “It obviously is.  You’re frowning.”  Keith doesn’t look at Lance when he pauses.  “Keith…  Come on.  You’re mad and I know I did something wrong.  Can’t you tell me so I can make it right?”

     “Why should I have to?  It’s not that big a deal, Lance.”  Keith looks out at the water.  What would Lance say?  He seems open enough.  But…  Lance had shared Keith’s bed out of concern last night.  There’s nothing more to it.  Why should Keith expose himself because Lance assumed his friend is straight?

     “I think it is.  You’re obviously hurt because of something I said.  I want to make it okay again.  Plus,” Keith glances at Lance when he changes his tone to be more joking, “Mama chewed me out when you ran away.”

     Keith chuckles and hides his face, feeling his eyes burn with tears.  Of course.  He finds it strange that Lance’s mother has taken a liking to Keith, but he hates to admit that he likes it.  He ignores the silence between them, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.  He’s going to have to tell him eventually.

     “...it was what you said about having a girlfriend in the future,” Keith says without looking at Lance.  He doesn’t want to see Lance’s face.  Not now.

     “Seriously?  Why?”

     Lance, of all people, is the first person he’s actually telling this, but he’s making Keith really rethink this decision.  “Just…  I don’t…  That won’t happen.”

     “Oh.”

     “Yeah.”

     There’s a while where they’re just quiet.  The only noise between him and Lance is the sound of the waves as they move further away.

     “So do you want to meet someone else then?”

     What kind of question is that?  Keith frowns and looks at Lance, seeing a bit of red in his cheeks.  He must be warm in the sun..

     “You know..  A guy or something?”  Lance isn’t looking at Keith when he asks.

     “...Yeah,” Keith says, looking out at the ocean again.

     “Okay.  Cool.”  There’s a few moments of quiet again before Lance’s mouth opens again.  “Do you want to go back to my place?  Mama should have lunch ready soon.”

     “Yeah.  Okay, sure,” Keith agrees, feeling himself smile.  It almost feels okay to accept the offer.  They’re friends, after all.

     “Come on then.  She’ll want to finish scolding me before we can eat.”

     Keith nods and stands with Lance, still clenching the hand that he put in the water.  They head for the cliffs together before Lance turns and faces Keith, grabbing the limp sleeve of his jacket where it still hangs from him.

     “Oh yeah!  Your jacket!”

     “My jacket?”  Now Keith is confused again.

     “Yeah, dude.  Why was it here when Mullet Head was here?”

      Keith feels his heart racing with his mind as he struggles to think of an explanation.

      "Well..  I come here to swim a lot.  I might've been swimming whenever you met "Mullet Head,"" he tries to offer as a reasonable explanation.

      "But no one was out there.  It was just me and him."  The confusion on Lance's face is obvious but it makes Keith worried.  "Unless you were way out there..."

      "I probably was-"

      "But it was night!  Why would anyone swim that far out at night?"

      "Lance," Keith starts, feeling trapped.  How is he going to come clean to  _Lance_ about this?


	22. You Gotta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize this chapter is late and is out of the usual update timeline. Thank you so much for the interest and the concern. I am sad to say that this project will be on hiatus until after my finals early in December. Please feel free to message me questions and prompts for short snippets or even mini-stories at @klance-and-a-half on Tumblr! I love hearing from you guys and I hope to be putting up more writing and being more active over there and here once this semester is over.
> 
> -side note: taking six classes in college, nearly all upper division, is not a good idea

     “You’re being ridiculous.”

     “Like hell, dude!  You’re telling me that you _ love _ swimming out in that water  _ late at night and alone _ ,” Lance states, growing more exasperated with his friend by the minute.  They’re walking up the path towards the road together, kinda.  Lance is a few feet behind Keith where the stupid mullet is just barreling through the thin path.

     “I don’t see how this is your problem.”

     “You’re my friend!!  What if something happens to you, Keith?  What then?”

     “You have other friends,” stupid Keith stupidly says.  Oh, what Lance would give to just take his hand and-  “Besides, when I swim is my choice.  Not yours.”

     “That’s not the point, dude,” Lance argues.  He wants to reach out and knock sense into the other boy.  If only that would work.  “You could get seriously hurt swimming there  _ alone _ .”

     “You’d know that since you almost drowned out there.”

     “How’d you know that?”

     Lance looks at Keith’s back as he stops in the middle of the small path, essentially blocking Lance off.  How did  _ that _ strike a nerve?  Keith seriously needs to get himself in check.  Looking at Keith, he notices that one of Keith’s hands is clenched.  Why is he so tense about this?

     Keith is quiet when he finally says, “Your parents mentioned you hallucinated a merman.”

     “I didn’t hallucinate him!  Mullet Head is real, I’m telling you,” Lance explodes.  He pushes past Keith and head for the road, still spouting of about how no one believes him about Mullet Head.  How could everyone think that Lance was hallucinating?  Mullet Head is real.  He ate some of Lance’s mama’s cooking!  He has to be real...right?

     They walk up the path to the road.  Keith walks beside him as Lance goes on and on, describing Mullet Head to his friend.  Lance can not believe that Keith doesn’t trust him about the existence of Mullet Head.  Even worse, Lance realizes as they’re walking and talking, is that Lance hasn’t seen Mullet Head recently.  So he has an idea.

     “Okay, I know you don’t believe me, dude, but how about this?  Tonight we can go to the shore and look for him.  Come on, Keith, don’t shake your head at me!  Look, he might show up tonight.  He was injured a while ago after saving me - his front was all bloody…  So maybe he’ll come back if we bring food again!  He seemed to like leftovers from my fridge.”

     Lance waits for Keith answer, still ignoring his friend’s disbelief and protests.  “Okay, stop,” Lance says after a while of Keith trying to argue with him, holding his hand up.  “Stop.  We’re gonna see Mullet Head together and you  _ will _ believe me.  Got it?”   
     “What makes you think he’ll just show up because you want him to?”

     “He’ll show up, dude.  We’re friends.  I know he isn’t just gonna be gone without telling me.”

     Lance smiles wide, showing his confidence in Mullet Head to Keith’s disbelief.  Maybe he’s wrong about this, but at least Keith will hang out with him for a while longer.

     “Fine,” Keith gives in.  He shoots Lance a glare before continuing.  “But only if it’s at the shore back there.  I don’t want to be out in the open.”   
     “Yeah, sure, Keith,” Lance answers.  Why would Keith care about where they’re sitting?  Is it because he’s..?  “I’ve only seen Mullet Head there, anyway.  I’m sure he’ll come by eventually.”

     Keith mumbles something under his breath but Lance lets it slide.  He’s too happy right now.  He’ll be able to show Mullet Head to someone!  Maybe Keith will become friends with the merman, too?


	23. Night Picnic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much, old readers and new, for sticking with me all these months. I have a few ideas for the remaining chapters, so please bear with me as I straighten out some things. Sad to say that I have some courses I'm taking this summer, so I don't know if I'll have a schedule to put these out, but I hope to have the big reveal by the one year anniversary for this fic.
> 
> \- Lee

     The afternoon races by as Keith tries to figure out just what he’s doing.  He tries to think this through, to plan for his stupid reveal to Lance, but whenever Keith actually starts to have a plan, Lance interrupts.  So far, they’ve played video games - Lance won the first person shooters while Keith won the racing - and gone to explore the land surrounding Lance’s home.  Keith has found out through Lance the schedules of the other boys - Hunk will be working most days in town while Pidge is helping with coding and other tech stuff at their old high school.  He gets to hear about Lance’s family, about where Lance is going for college and how excited he is to one day be a pilot.  It’s in these quiet moments that Keith realizes that maybe this whole thing is a very bad idea.

     He has no choice in the end.  After dinner, they go upstairs to wait out Mama before going to get some leftovers out of the fridge.  While Lance puts them in a basket, Keith tries to warn him against going at night like this.

     “Mullet Head will be there, dude, I know it,” comes the confident reply.

     Keith knows that Lance is  _ technically _ correct, but he’s determined to make sure there’s no appearance.  He has a very bad feeling about this…

     As they sneak out the back door, Keith is tasked with carrying the food while Lance mans the flashlight.  Even with the moon so full in the sky, they have some trouble seeing down the paths with how thick the woods are.  They’re mostly quiet as they walk with occasional bouts of rambling from Lance as he tells Keith about Mullet Head again.  All too soon, they reach the cliff.

     Down below, the water is calm and low.  The rocks are exposed and reflecting some moonlight with their held pools of water.  Keith can feel his stomach drop as Lance smiles at him before starting to climb down.  He adjusts the food and starts to climb down after the big idiot, hoping that maybe there’s another way out of this.

* * *

 

     With his feet sinking into the wet sand, Lance hurries around the private beach to find a relatively dry place near the water where he and Keith can search for Mullet Head.  He searches around, determined to find only the best spot for their picnic.  Once he finds a semi-dry rock, Lance sets their food down and starts to pull it out.  He can hear the tide lapping at the shoreline and the quiet noise of Keith’s wandering footsteps.  Maybe Mullet Head is out there tonight..?

     Once the food is laid out, Lance smiles at the spread of food. He glances at Keith to see him staring out at the water.  Getting an idea, Lance starts to pull his shirt off.  He’s tugging off his shorts before he hears Keith’s voice.

     “What’re you doing?”

     “What’s it look like I’m doing?” Lance asks, smiling at the confused look on Keith’s face.  Ugly mullet aside, Keith is actually cute when his face is like that.  “I’m going to swim out there and find Mullet Head.  Duh!”

     A pause and it looks like Keith is chewing on his lip before saying, “You shouldn’t swim out there at night, Lance.”   
     Lance rolls his eyes and gives a deep sigh.  “ _ Keith _ ,” he whines, slouching and pouting at his friend.  “ _ Come on _ .”

     “No.”  Folded arms and a stern face.  Well, Lance knows he’s going to have to fight hard against that, especially since he’s standing in just his underwear in front of the water.

     “But I’ll be fine this time!  You’re here and everything!  Plus, Mullet Head is just out there.  He just can’t come on shore easily,” Lance explains.   
     “No.  You nearly drowned last time you were out here at night and swimming-” Lance’s whole face falls into a glower at the reminder “- and on top of that, I can’t swim out there to get you if something does happen.”

     “What do you mean you can’t?  I thought you said you come out here to swim at night all the time,” Lance reminds, righting his posture to stand tall again.  He folds his arms to match Keith’s, frowning just as much as the other had been.  Had been, since Keith’s face is now surprised and obviously irritated rather than determined as it was before.

     “I mean - um…”

     “Well?” Lance demands.

* * *

 

     What is he supposed to say?  Keith can feel his heart racing as they stand on the shore, his mind trying to catch up as he realizes that he’s caught.  If he comes clean, then his secret is out.  Can Lance even keep a secret?  The guy always seems to be talking about something…  On the other hand, what excuse could he give?  The fact he doesn’t have swim trunks on is out since Lance is standing in just his underwear and ready to swim - idiot - but Keith really doesn’t have any way to explain.

     “Guess I’m swimming alone, then.”

     Keith is left alone on the beach before he can even react.  Lance is already a good ten feet out in the water, leaving Keith no option to pull the idiot back to shore.  He glowers at the stupid smile on Lance’s stupid face as he stupidly laughs at Keith’s face.

     “That isn’t funny, Lance,” Keith states, folding his arms in front of his chest again as he looks out at Lance.  “You should get out of the water right now.  It’s too cold.”

     Punching Lance’s face is not an option only because of the water that stands between them, but Keith does consider risking it just to stop Lance’s stupid laughter.

     “Dude, I’m not the one who ran a fever last night,” Lance reminds.

     “I’m not the one who was in the hospital recently,” Keith counters.  He smirks at how quickly that shuts Lance up.  It doesn’t last long.   
     “I’ll find Mullet Head and I’ll show you.  Even if I’m in this water all night.”

     Oh no...


	24. Oh No

     Picking a fight with Lance might’ve not been the best idea when Keith looks back on it.  He pulls his knees close to his chest against the chilly wind, his jacket doing very little to warm him up.  Keith looks out at the water, trying to see where Lance’s head will pop up next.  They’d shouted back and forth before Lance got it in his head to try diving in the clear water to try and find the stupid merman.  Keith knows Lance won’t find anything, but he hopes Lance will call it a night soon.  Being out like this can’t be good for either of them…

     Keith shivers and tucks his face into his knees, trying to ignore the cold wind.  Sure, the bright moon is helping him spot Lance, but the idiot can go a moment or two without Keith watching him.  Right?

     He sighs after a while, looking out at the water again.  He’s curious where Lance will pop up next, just a dot in the dark water.

     Keith waits.

     And waits.

     Then, he worries.

     When Lance doesn’t resurface, Keith stands to look out further.  Still not seeing the idiot, Keith pulls his jacket off and tosses it behind him on the rock he’s been sitting on.  Without seeing Lance’s head pop up near the shoreline, Keith hurries to pull his shirt and pants off before making a bee-line for the water.  What a moron!  How could he trust Lance to actually swim alone at night?!

     He ignores the strange pain in his feet and legs for as long as he can, then he ignores the discomfort of his tail as he pushes himself through the water to find his idiot friend.  Of course Lance would find trouble in the water at night!  Keith searches around the sand, trying to spot anywhere Lance might’ve gotten himself caught or snared.  Finding nothing, Keith surfaces and looks around once again.

     Relief never felt so good as to see Lance’s smile when he spots Keith.  The idiot waves from the far distance and Keith starts to swim closer.  He figures that Lance might’ve been caught in a current to get out that far so quickly, but he’s worried about that being the case.  Is Lance alright?  He’d already been in the hospital once because of these excursions…  What if he’s hurt?

     “You’re an idiot,” is the first thing out of Keith’s mouth when he reaches his friend.  He wraps an arm around Lance to help support them both in the water, his tail under them lazily pushing to keep their heads above the water.

     “And you were missing,” is the witty comeback Lance delivers while smiling so wide that his face looks like it’s about to split.

     “You know I don’t always have to be in the water, right?”

     Lance looks confused for a brief moment.  Keith has hopes.  “I mean, yeah, this water, but you said you get lonesome, right?  Why not have a visitor sometimes?”   
     Keith considers dropping Lance back into the current that dragged him out here.

     “Let’s get you back to the shore.”

     That must’ve been what Lance was after because Keith suddenly finds himself with two long arms wrapped around his neck and a warmth spreading across his scale-covered cheeks.

     “It’s nice to see you again, Mullet Head.  I brought us a picnic this time.  Plus, another friend,” Lance starts to babble as Keith takes them back to the shore.  “His name is Keith.  I know you don’t have many friends, dude, but you two seem pretty similar, so I thought that you two might make good friends - y’know, once he sees you and believes what I’ve been saying.”

     This guy really must be thick.  Keith continues to swim, listening as Lance waxes on about how great Keith is and the few interactions they’ve had since meeting.  He notices that Lance finally finishes talking when they get close to the shore.  Keith makes sure that Lance can stand in the sand before stopping, not wanting to hurt himself again on the rocks.

     “Where is he,” Keith hears Lance ask as he wades to the shore.

     “Who?”

     “Keith,” Lance explains, his head turning as though he’s looking for his friend.

     Oh no…

     “Maybe he went home?”

     Lance points at Keith’s jacket and pants.  “Without those?”

     Oh shit.

     “Maybe?”

     “I doubt it.  He must be out in the water.”

     Keith sees the moron turning around to wade back out into the cold water.  He frowns and moves to block his friend each time Lance tries to evade him.  “You need to dry off and warm up, Lance,” he points out.  “You’re going to get sick.  And aren’t you still recovering from a head injury?”

     That earns him a glare from Lance, but the idiot does head back to the sand.  Keith can see that he’s about to have a major problem on his hands, a problem he didn’t want in the first place.  Lance is looking out in the water for wherever Keith could be and is obviously finding no sign of the other.  There’s a visible tenseness to Lance as Keith watches the other approach the water again.

     “Mullet Head, can you go see if he’s out there?  He might be hurt..  Swimming at night is dangerous,” Lance says as he wades closer.  Keith can feel his resolve leaving him.  He needs to come clean with Lance about this but he can’t figure out how…

     “Yeah, I’ll look for you..  Just stay here and put a jacket on before you get yourself sick.” Keith insists.  He watches Lance head back to the sand before turning around in the water.  Oh god..  What is he going to do?

**Author's Note:**

> This series is going to be really long. Just warning. Please let me know what you think in the comments.
> 
> If something is out of character, then blame the fact there are only thirteen episodes and none of them have primary focus on these two lovely idiots.
> 
> **Edit**
> 
> If you liked this, please come give some love to DreamcastLee over on their Tumblr: klance-and-a-half.tumblr.com
> 
> If you want to see headcanons and AU ideas, come give CreepingHeart some love at a-chance-for-klance.tumblr.com!!!!


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